Search Weight Loss Topics:

Page 153«..1020..152153154155..160170..»

Home » Diets that Work » Page 153

Paleo. Keto. Whole 30 when January rolls around on the calendar, diet plans become one of the most searched topics online. People are looking for a safe, fast and healthy way to lose pounds and inches while gaining a new lifestyle.

The thing is, not all diet plans work for everyone. Switching up your diet can be challenging, especially if youve been in the same unhealthy rut for years.

The key is to find that unique solution for you, the one that fits in with your lifestyle, schedule and food requirements. That way youll be more likely to stick to the plan.

Losing weight and eating healthy does not happen overnight, said Pat Jurek, RD MBA, manager, Center for Weight Management, Henry Ford Macomb Hospitals, in an email. Instead, developing a healthier relationship with food is often a long, circuitous journey. Expect setbacks along the way. Those mishaps and mistakes will help you build the skills and resilience you need to succeed over the long haul.

Katie Roberts, lead dietician at Michigan Bariatric Institute at St. Joseph Mercy Health System, agreed that while lots of people look for fast results, what you need to consider is long-term goals and a more permanent lifestyle change.

If you work long hours, for example, she said, a plan that is heavy on meal prep may not be the best option for you.

Instead, Roberts said to take a more realistic approach that includes:

Produce, especially organic options

Quality proteins, including plant-based choices

Portion control

Exercise

Small goals

Think about your health and wellness in the long term, said Roberts. Small goals will add up over time. You may not always see the numbers on the scale move, but things are changing internally youll have more energy and feel better overall.

WW, formerly Weight Watchers, launched myWW, which takes a customized approach to weight loss, said registered dietician Jaclyn London, head of nutrition and wellness at WW. You start by taking a personalized science and behavior-based assessment then based on your responses in areas like food preferences, activity level and lifestyle, are matched with one of three flexible plans.

Its about meeting people within the framework of their lifestyle, she said.

Ultimately, weight loss is about making small, every day changes, said London. WW provides flexibility, liveability and an online community to offer encouragement, tips, recipes and more.

Jenny Craig recently rolled out the DNA Decoder Plan, creating an even more customized experience for members by personalizing their weight loss plans based on their DNA. This plan analyzes 15 different genetic markers that can provide members with insight into five key areas: Sleep quality, eating behaviors, metabolism and how their body processes food and responds to exercise.

Jenny Craig also launched two new customized offerings: Jenny30 and Simple60. Jenny30 gives members the tools to lose up to 16 pounds in 30 days powered by the Rapid Results program, which utilizes Nobel Prize-winning research on the bodys circadian rhythm to help optimize metabolism and accelerate weight loss, said Briana Rodriguez, registered dietitian nutritionist and certified personal trainer for Jenny Craig.

She said everyone has a different motivation to improve their health, which is why personalized support is so important. What motivates one person might not always work for someone else.

Members receive one-on-one support in-center or over the phone from dedicated consultants who create a personalized plan for each member because we know everyone is different and what might work for one person might not be right for another, said Rodriguez.

Keto, according to Jurek, is heavy in calories from fat and protein and very restrictive with carbohydrates with an emphasis on low-starch vegetables as the primary carbohydrate source.

Intermittent fasting places an individual into windows of time, a window for eating and a window for not eating. The non-eating windows may be 10-16 hours. Intermittent fasting goes hand in hand with caloric restriction as long as the individual is not loading up on too many high calorie density foods during their shortened eating window, she said.

Whole 30 eliminates all sugars and starches, including legumes, alcohol, grains and dairy. Some fruits are allowed and in moderation.

The Paleo diet is based on eating like our Paleolithic ancestors, focusing on lean animal proteins, healthy fats, vegetables, fruits and avoiding legumes, grains, potatoes, sugars and processed foods.

Jurek said a good strategy is to work with a dietician if you plan to follow a diet that eliminates certain foods or entire food groups. Thats because while these approaches may help you lose weight as long as they lower your overall calorie intake, they can create nutrient deficiencies and other issues for people with chronic diseases. She said diets with excessive protein, for example, can be taxing on the kidneys and that might cause an issue for some people.

Health professionals, said Roberts, can tailor a plan just for you, using the food groups to your benefit. They can suggest small changes like going from 32 oz. of water a day to 48 oz. or adding 30 minutes of walking a week to your schedule. The key is to not make too many drastic changes all at one time.

Be careful not to fall prey to vague goals, like I want to lose 20 pounds. Instead, identify exactly what it is you want to achieve. Do you want to be healthier to address medical issues like high blood pressure or constant knee pain? Do you want to lose weight so you can train harder for that marathon in Hawaii youve wanted to do for years? Do you want to drop three dress sizes for your high school reunion in July? Do you want to lose 40 pounds so you have more energy to run around with your kids on the playground? Be specific and remind yourself frequently of your goals.

While there's no such thing as a perfect diet, studies suggest that emphasizing healthful foods (such as vegetables, fruits and whole grains) and limiting potentially harmful foods (like those loaded with sugar, salt, fat and chemicals) can have positive health effects, said Jurek.

She said this has been the prevailing message for years, but some people believe that dieting advice continues to change.

The answer has been to, and continues to be, eat more plant based foods/less meat, more whole foods/less processed foods, move more/sit less, said Jurek.

Many diets take this message to heart. The popular Mediterranean diet, she said, emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, heart-healthy olive oil, nuts, seeds and lean protein (including lots of fish and beans).

Studies show that following a Mediterranean-style diet helps lower blood pressure and protects against chronic diseases ranging from cancer to stroke. One reason it boasts so many health benefits is because it focuses on whole, unprocessed foods that are nutrient-rich and mostly free of sugar, sodium and harmful fats, she said.

The DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) diet is similar to the Mediterranean diet in that it focuses on eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy and minimizing red meat and sweets. Designed for people with high blood pressure, the DASH diet not only helps keep blood sugar and blood pressure levels steady, but it also helps people lose weight.

The MIND diet, said Jurek, is a combination of the Mediterranean and DASH diets that emphasizes eating foods that nourish the brain, including nuts, berries and fatty fish.

Long-term change requires a commitment to changing your eating habits for good. If youre serious about making 2020 the year you finally drop those extra pounds youve been talking about for years, Pat Jurek, RD MBA, manager, Center for Weight Management, Henry Ford Macomb Hospitals, shared these four strategies that can help you meet your individual goals:

Plan ahead. Change isn't easy. It can be downright discouraging at times. You'll fare well if you plan ahead and prepare your home and work environment to support healthier eating habits. Keep fresh fruits and vegetables on hand and limit your access to unhealthy processed foods and snacks.

Get help. Consider meeting with a dietitian to customize your plan and provide tips, strategies, ideas and accountability for your new approach to eating. A professional can help you troubleshoot as challenges arise and also hold you accountable so you're better equipped to meet your goals.

Build a support network. Surround yourself with like-minded friends and family members. Knowing others are working with you can help you manage during difficult times.

Keep it positive. Instead of fixating on when or how you've failed to eat as planned, focus on how you're supporting yourself to make better eating decisions.

Originally posted here:
Looking for a new diet in 2020? Check out these trendy and traditional choices - The Oakland Press

So this is the time of year where people are trying to ditch that holiday weight. They try all kinds of diets. Some will even try some cleanses. Oh and others will do both and hit it hard at the gym.

Whatever is needed to lose some weight. If you google the Military Diet you may find one that you may like. I mean it does include eating hot dogs and ice cream. Those are two menu items I thought I would never see on a diet.

I mean the Keto diet was crazy enough for me. I mean you could eat cheese and all sorts of meat. This Military Diet is something else. Here is the plan..

You have to follow a strict, low calorie meal plan for three days. You are supposed to eat small portions of foods like toast, eggs,vegetables and at night you can have a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Really. Oh and one of the 3 days you are supposed to eat two hot dogs. Not with a bun, not with chili or cheese. Just two hot dogs.

After those 3 days you are supposed to take four days off and eat your normal way.....then repeat. If you do that you can lose up to ten pounds in a week. So of course that is making people want to try it.

Does it work? A doctor said that it probably would help some people lose weight since on those days you are on the diet you are eating less than 1,500 calories. The problem is that it is in no way nutritious and odds are you will gain the weight back when you get off this diet.

Have you ever tried it? Did you have any success? I think I will continue with just trying to eat healthy, cut bad carbs and go on my merry way.

Go here to see the original:
806 Health Tip: There Are Some Crazy Diets Out There - mix941kmxj.com

Call it the anti-diet.

Its a way of thinking about eating that takes you back to babyhood, when you ate what you wanted for as long as you wanted and when full, turned away.

Intuitively, your baby self knew when youd had enough, thank you, so you shut your mouth. And you didnt open it to food again until you were hungry.

This is the idea behind Intuitive Eating, a concept and a book created 25 years ago byregistered dietitians Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole, but is now experiencing a renaissance.

Why now?

Its a backlash to diet culture. People are getting sick of being told what to do, said Tribole, who has authored nine books on nutrition.

Its time to let go of a dieting system that is toxic, said Resch, a nutrition therapist who specializes in eating disorders. The data show that 95% of people who go on diets fail at them, and if theyve lost weight, two thirds of them gain even more weight back.

The only alternative is to start trusting the body and feeling the freedom and enjoyment of food that comes with that, she said.

So forget the word diet. Intuitive eating teaches you to listen toyour bodys cues about food, once your mind is free of the dos and donts of eating.

The scientific mechanism behind intuitive eating is called interoceptive awareness, or the ability to perceive physical sensations that arise within the body.

Intuitive eating is really instinct, emotion and thought, Resch said. Its the instinct, hunger, fullness. What we like, what we dont like. But you also monitor your emotions and your thoughts because the cognitive distortions, the diet myths that are in our culture, can affect our eating.

Studies show people who are in touch with their bodys needs have enhanced well-being and quality of life, Tribole said.

People who score high on intuitive eating have more body appreciation, they enjoy their eating better, they have less disordered eating, such as restrictive eating, meal skipping, chronic dieting, and feelings of guilt and shame about food, Tribole said.

How does one learn or relearn how to become an intuitive eater? By following 10 basic principles, say Tribole and Resch.

If you arent experiencing pleasure from the food you eat, then youll never feel satisfied by eating. Yet many people deny themselves foods that will hit the spot.

To me, satisfaction is the guiding force of intuitive eating because if you put your focus on being satisfied, then its going to inform hunger, fullness and respecting your body, and its going to inform making peace with food, Resch said.

Satisfaction is the vehicle to get you to decide to start eating when comfortably hungry, rather than not hungry at all, she adds, while stressing that weight control is not a part of intuitive eating.

This is a key principle in intuitive eating rejecting the toxic diet culture that says you have to look a certain way in order to be an acceptable person worthy of love and acceptance.

You will never ever get on a scale while eating intuitively, say Resch and Tribole.

Weight stigma, which is part of diet culture, basically says theres something wrong with you if youre not conforming to that culturally thin ideal, Resch said. But what if you are DNA programmed to be in a larger body? Its cruel and toxic to tell people that they need to shrink to conform.

The danger of dieting, said Tribole, is that it works in the short term. But she added science has shown that within two to five years, the weight comes back in spades.

Resch cites a2012 studyof 2,000 twin pairs which found that twins who had dieted at least once were heavier later in life than their non-dieting twins. Dieting itself may induce a small subsequent weight gain, independent of genetic factors, the study concluded.

Dieting can also lead to dangerous eating behaviors, such self-induced vomiting, binge eating and laxative abuse, she said. In fact, research shows disordered eating is on the rise: A2019 studyfound that eating disorders doubled when measured in five year increments between 2000 and 2018.

Our model is about engaging in healthy behaviors that are sustainable, Tribole said. Weight is not a behavior. So intuitive eating is all about taking the focus off weight.

Once you have a dont eat sign on a food, Resch said, youll only want it more.

The brilliant survival part of our brain recognizes that the organism is in danger and is being starved, and sends out chemicals to get you to overeat emotionally, she said.

To combat this, Tribole suggests listing all the foods you reject or restrict, and then rank them from scariest what you think is worse for you or makes you gain weight to least scary.

Pick one (maybe the least scary, Tribole suggests) and then a couple of hours after a meal, find a calm, quiet place and eat as much of that food as you like.

Making peace with food means giving yourself license to eat. Theres no judgment. Theres no good food, theres no bad food, Resch said.

By bringing out the peace pipe with that food, you end its power over you, she said.

It will help you make sure that all foods are emotionally equivalent, Resch said. They may not be nutritionally equivalent, but theyre emotionally equivalent, meaning that you have the same emotional reaction to whatever you eat you dont feel guilty or bad about eating something.

Sound too good to be true?

After a couple of days, all my clients end up with really great balance, Resch said. They want a salad because that instinct in your body wants balance.

Hunger is not the enemy, say Resch and Tribole. Its your bodys signal for survival, and thus deserves to be treated with respect. By learning to honor your hunger, they say, you can heal your relationship with food and learn to trust your body.

A key principle is not waiting until youre ravenously hungry to eat.

Then youre in that primal hunger, as we call it, where you cant think straight and you just got to get the food in as fast as you can, Resch said.

Signs of hunger may vary from person to person. Some might feel a subtle gnawing in the throat or esophagus; other might get sleepy and lethargic; still others might get a headache; or have no signs at all until they begin to eat (and overeat). Those signs can flux when sleep deprived, traveling or stressed at work as well.

Learning your unique signs of hunger will put you on the path to getting back in touch with your bodys needs, say Resch and Tribole.

Once youve learned how to recognize your hunger, its time to feel the fullness. Thats difficult in a busy culture which encourages eating while working, on our smartphones or driving in the car.

To counter that, the intuitive eating philosophy recommends making meals sacred time, as much as possible. The idea, Tribole said, is to create a space free of distraction, including TVs, smartphones and other electronics. Eat sitting down. In the middle of the meal, pause, and ask yourself how you feel any signs of fullness?

If thats tough, Tribole has a 3-bite option. After the first bite, check in and see how you feel about the food pleasant, unpleasant or neutral? In the middle of the meal, pause for bite two and do the same while checking for signs of fullness. At your last bite check in again and rate your fullness does it feel good, bad or neutral?

She even has another tip: Try eating a meal with your non-dominant hand. Thats one way to get your mind to pay attention!

At some point along the intuitive eating journey, the food police ingrained in your brain will begin to guilt you, say Tribole and Resch. How could it not when youve spent your life in a culture that tells you what is good and bad to eat? Or shames you for the size and shape of your body?

The psychological part of it is so powerful, Resch said. We have to be aware of what is accurate thinking and what is distortive thinking by diet culture.

The solution is to say a loud No! to those thoughts in your head, she said. If you have trouble, reach out to a trained nutritionist or counselor.

Everyone eats for comfort now and again. Thats ok, Resch said, and becoming connected with your body will allow you to recognize when youre stress eating or sad eating. Thats because youll realize youre not hungry.

We have to be aware of how our emotions may cause us to make different decisions about eating, Resch said. Its getting to the point where you can separate the emotions of comfort from using food in a destructive way.

Food doesnt fix feelings, Tribole said. Try reaching out to friends and family, taking a walkabout in nature, meditating, even reading or playing with a pet. You could also find a good counselor.

Talking about your wellness and health can lead to increased physical health and emotional health, Resch said. And then we just have to really listen to hunger and fullness and get back in tune with that.

These last three pillars of intuitive eating are broader than just understanding your relationship with food.

The whole point of intuitive eating is about either healing or cultivating a healthy relationship with food, mind and body, Tribole said. Its really an inside job. Its listening to whats going on with your entire body.

That means addressing all aspects of health, Resch said: Enough sleep, stress reduction, work-life balance, exercise that makes you happy, all the things that you do as part of self-care and wellness.

But be careful about embracing the wellness movement until you have freed yourself from the diet culture, Resch said.

So many people are avoiding certain foods and saying its for wellness, but really the intent is to change their bodies, she said. The wellness movement can be a cover for getting thinner.

Anytime there is a focus on weight loss, it will sabotage the intuitive eating process, Resch added,because someone will eat something that is not on the diet and get into that same cycle of, I feel bad that I ate it. Now Ive broken it and Ill keep eating it.

Resch said it also means rejecting societys negative opinion about your body if you have experienced that and banishing your own sense of shame. Bodies come in all shapes and sizes.

Ive been in practice 38 years and there are many people who are just absolutely in tune with their bodies, and with eating, and they live in larger bodies, Resch said. Theyve been larger all their lives and they are healthy great cholesterol, great blood pressure cause their bodies are meant to be there.

The majority of us are born with all of this internal wisdom about eating, Resch said. We just need to listen to it.

See the rest here:
Intuitive eating: The anti-diet, or how pleasure from food is the answer, say its creators - Q13 News Seattle

When Aaron Thompkins got on the plane, someone else got off.

Thompkins was on his way to California, to participate in the filming of season 10 of The Biggest Loser, a reality show dedicated to competitive weight loss.

"I was over 400 pounds at that point," Thompkins said. "We were about to take off, and this guy was so upset that he had to sit next to me."

The man got up, complained to a flight attendant, and got off the plane.

"He said nothing to me, but I remember I put my head down," Thompkins said. "I always think back on that moment, and think I should've just said something, but I didn't. I put my head down and I was so ashamed that I didn't want to bring more attention to myself and the situation."

Thompkins got sent home from The Biggest Loser during the eighth episode. He was nervous entering the airport, hoping there wouldn't be another incident. "I was scared that whole scenario was going to happen all over again, where somebody was going to be mad because they were sitting next to me," he said.

This sort of internalized weight stigma which emerges from public fat shaming is common for fat people, and is associated with some serious health outcomes, from depression to anxiety to binge eating and even increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

But a new study led by former Weight Watchers consultant and current Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania Rebecca Pearl experimented with a newer method of weight loss, where people are encouraged to accept themselves, even as they try to change their bodies.

The study divided participants into two groups.

One group received a typical weight loss management program, with the usual cooking tips and recipes, while the other received a specialized "stigma reduction intervention," along with the typical weight loss management program. The stigma intervention used gave participants the skills to cope with self-hating thoughts, experiences where they are treated badly due to their weight, and increase feelings of self and body acceptance.

In the screening process, applicants had to confirm to a psychologist that their weight negatively affected how they felt about themselves. They were only eligible for the study if they reported a history of being bullied or discriminated against due to their weight.

Crystal Cox/Business Insider

For 12 weeks, participants attended regular group meetings. At the end of the six month study, participants filled out surveys with self-evaluating questions like "I am less attractive than most other people because of my weight" and "I hate myself for being overweight."

The second group was less likely to hate themselves due to their weight compared to participants who only received weight loss treatment. While it may sees obvious that a comprehensive approach to weight loss would involve tackling people's mental health as well as their physical health, this is the first study with proof that advocating for a weight loss management routine involving mental health treatment is beneficial .

The study was conducted on 72 participants, 84% of them female, and 66% of them black. (That the study was conducted on a majority of black women was unintentional. Pearl recruited her participants in West Philadelphia, where there is a sizable black population.)

All participants had a body mass index of 35 or higher. The BMI cutoff for obesity is 30.

"Acceptance and change might seem to be on opposite poles, but actually what we find is that by increasing acceptance, we can also open up people for change and vice versa," Pearl told Insider.

In designing the study, Pearl drew on the work of Dialectical Behavior Therapy developer Marsha Linehan, with phrases like "I can accept and love myself as I am right now, while also working to change my health behaviors and lose weight to improve my health."

Some participants told Pearl they almost felt guilty because, as feminists, they knew that they should love themselves for how they were, but wanted to lose weight for health reasons. Many participants told Pearl they wanted to lose weight to lower their blood pressure and run around with their grandkids, not to look a certain way.

"I've certainly talked to researchers and clinicians who worry that if we promote too much body acceptance, or focus too much on reducing stigma, that people will get the message that it's accepted, or that people will feel less motivated to want to change their health behaviors or lose weight," Pearl told Insider.

Though Pearl's study used traditional weight loss methods, it also used aspects of Health At Every Size philosophy, which espouses intuitive eating, giving up diets and accepting bodies as they are.

The study was limited in its small size and short duration, especially given that research shows many diets don't work in the long term. Pearl is currently recruiting for a 16-month version of the study with more participants, hoping to repeat the same results.

The study was funded by Weight Watchers, and three of the study authors were former Weight Watchers consultants, but Pearl says Weight Watchers was not involved in the study design at all.

Charlotte Markey, a Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University who wasn't involved in the study, said she isn't too concerned about the Weight Watchers connection. Markey told Insider she feels the study's weight loss method exists in a happy medium between the anti-diet Health At Every Size movement and traditional diet culture which Health At Every Size was created to combat.

"In this area of research too many people have taken sides," said Markey. "You're either pro self-acceptance, just love yourself as you are, it doesn't matter if you have type two diabetes, or you're pro-weight loss, because we have this accumulation of research suggesting that it would benefit people's health in some cases."

But Markey pointed out that you'd have to ignore a lot of research to say that weight and health aren't at all linked, and that some people would benefit from weight loss. If you think you have to beat yourself up in order to lose weight, however, Pearl's study suggests that isn't the best approach.

"Consider having a little self-compassion while working on improving health behaviors," said Pearl.

During Thompkins' time on The Biggest Loser, the contestants were taken to an upscale community pool to swim.

"That was probably the most overweight people that pool has ever seen in their entire lives come out all at once," he said. "I told them 'I do not take my shirt off for anybody, I'm not going to do this.'"

But seeing everyone else strip down to their bathing suits, Thompkins did as well. Watching all those people out there that day, proudly splashing around in bathing suits on camera, Thompkins stopped being embarrassed for a moment.

He chalked that growth up to the therapy the show offered, even if wasn't shown onscreen very often.

"When it comes to weight, there's a mental part of it that you've got to try to figure out and work through," he said. "It's about figuring out why you're doing the things you're doing."

Read more:

Many thin people have no idea what it really takes to lose weight

Why you should think twice before complimenting someone's weight loss

5 things the weight loss industry doesn't want you to know

See the article here:
A new kind of weight loss approach helps people deal with self-loathing instead of just ignoring it - Insider - INSIDER

Some elite athletes, like Venus Williams, adhere to a vegan diet.

Maybe you've seen the Netflix documentary The Game Changers, or you've heard of Scott Jurek, a man who trains for and wins 100-mile footraces without eating animal products. Even Tom Brady reportedly eats a diet that's 80% plant-based. Everywhere you turn, there seem to be more and more elite athletes going vegan, or at least vegetarian.

Common sense has long said that high-level athletes need as much protein and calories as possible -- and many people assume a vegan diet is lacking in both. But then why do we keep seeing athletes pop up like Patrik Baboumian, a world-record holding powerlifter who follows a strict vegan diet?

It turns out that a lot of popular ideas surrounding veganism, vegetarianism and plant-based diets in general may be false. Elite athletes can and commonly do excel at their sport without eating animal products -- and it may work for you too.

Patrik Baboumian is the world's strongest man, and he's vegan.

I spoke to Registered Dietician Brittany Modell to learn more. She told me that athletes have different reasons for adopting a plant-based diet, including health, environmental and ethical concerns. Although various athletes have their own motivations, many have been public about the benefits they've seen.

Andre Patton, a wide receiver who plays in the NFL, has said that he feels the difference from eating a vegan diet, and that he wakes up in the morning more energetic and ready to go.

Now playing: Watch this: Taste testing the latest plant-based meat alternatives

20:55

American tennis legend Venus Williams eats a vegan diet to reduce fatigue and joint pain associated with Sjgren's syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disease she was diagnosed with in 2011.

Patrick Baboumian -- who once carried the heaviest weight ever recorded -- has said that he has lowered his blood pressure and increased his recovery time by avoiding all animal products. Babomian also cites environmental concerns for his decision to go vegan.

A plant-based diet is more than capable of giving you the nutrients that you need.

This is just anecdotal evidence -- but there's research that seems to support the claims.

Harvard Medical School says that a vegan diet reduces heart-damaging inflammation, and a meta-analysis of various studies concluded that vegetarian diets are helpful in managing long-term inflammation. Multiple other outlets have echoed the same thing -- eating more plants and less animal products will help lower your inflammation.

Medical researchers are thinking more and more about inflammation as a root cause of a lot of our ailments. Inflammation is a necessary immune response, but sometimes it goes too far. It's been proposed to be a common factor in heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and cancer. Stress, anxiety and other mental health challenges have also been linked to inflammation.

On a day-to-day level, inflammation can cause swollen and painful joints, chronic bloating and fatigue -- three things that would make any athlete's performance suffer. Hence, it makes perfect sense why so many people say they feel better when they switch to a more plant-based diet.

Carbs are more important for athletic success than you may think.

While both personal experience and research supports a vegan diet being possible even for athletes, beliefs about animal products being necessary for performance still float around.

One common mistaken idea is that animal protein is critical to athletic performance. Muscles need protein and amino acids to repair themselves and grow, but the exact amount of protein we should be consuming has been under some debate. While some athletes try to consume as much protein as possible, Modell tells me that most Americans end up eating more than the daily recommended amount of protein, which is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. For someone who weighs 150 pounds or 68 kilograms, that's about 55 grams of protein per day.

Modell explained that athletes actually need sufficient carbohydrates to perform, especially in endurance sports. Carbs are often overlooked, especially because of the pervasive rumor that eating them makes you gain weight. But your body stores the glucose from carbohydrates as high muscle glycogen.

Glycogen is essentially the fuel your muscles use to perform, and more readily available fuel means a higher energy output. So, a higher intake of healthy carbohydrates allows athletes to perform at high intensity levels. A plant-based diet filled with whole grains, fruits and vegetables typically gives people the fuel they need when exercising.

Another common belief is that you can't get all of the essential amino acids without eating meat. While animal protein, like meat and eggs, does contain all of the amino acids your body can't produce on its own, simply combining two sources of plant protein -- like beans and rice -- will also give you all the amino acids you need.

Plant-based food is still incredibly delicious.

If you're wondering whether cutting out more animal products can work for you, the answer is almost certainly yes -- assuming you're still eating a varied diet with plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and plant protein sources. While a plant-based diet won't turn you from a pickup soccer player into Cristiano Ronaldo, you may see athletic performance gains stemming from quicker recovery times. Plus, you have a good likelihood of enjoying outcomes like lowered cholesterol and a healthier heart.

You certainly don't have to go full vegan to reap the benefits of a plant-based diet. Start with just one day a week where you eat a vegetarian diet, like a "Meatless Monday," and see how your body responds. Or, just try cutting out junk food in your diet and replacing empty calories with plant-based foods like nuts, legumes or veggies.

The bottom line is that if you're interested in the benefits of a plant-based diet, you should experiment with what you're eating, try to add more plant-based whole foods and figure out what makes you feel best.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

Read more here:
These pro athletes are vegan -- why they switched and how you can benefit too - CNET

You probably wouldn't recognize actor Ethan Suplee if you saw him out in public these days, even though he's been onscreen, both in TV and movies, for the better part of the quarter century (he's been in everything from Boy Meets World as a kid to Mallrats, American History X, Remember the Titans, My Name Is Earl, Wolf of Wall Street, and most recently Motherless Brooklyn). Suplee has pulled off one of the most dramatic and impressive transformations we've seen from someone living under the public eye, but his workouts weren't to pack on the muscle needed to play a superhero. Suplee was more focused on transforming his relationship with food and fitness. Then the pounds dropped, and muscle followed.

The 43-year-old actor recently documented his progress, sharing that he had shed over 200 pounds and started packing on muscle with a consistent weightlifting routine. Suplee is all-in on this newfound health kick, to the point that he's started his own podcast, American Glutton, that focuses investigates obesity, diet culture, and the ways that he has engaged with his own health over the last 20-plus years.

But this isn't the first time Suplee, who has weighed over 500 pounds before, has slimmed down. So far, though, it feels like it's the first time that all of his hard work will help him to actually maintain a healthy lifestyle. He opened up about his journey in a phone interview with Men's Health, along with sharing his go-to chest push day workout on video.

Suplee says that he was always a "heavy kid," and that's when his relationship to his weight and food developed. His grandparents put him on a diet, so he began sneaking food and preferring to eat alone, a cycle that would become hard to break as an adult. Food became just like every other drug, and I didnt understand how my body used it, he says. But there was still a long road ahead, and many of Suplee's earliest roles showcased his size as much as they did his talents.

ABC Photo ArchivesGetty Images

By 2002, Suplee knew he had to change. "I had this girlfriend at the time, and I just realized at some point that in order to have a lasting relationship with her and be able to lead the life I wanted to lead, I would have to do something about my health." He opened up to her about his goals, and they set out to live a healthier life. Suplee started by putting himself on a liquid diet and estimates that he lost 80 pounds in two months, an extreme drop and lifestyle change that he would never advocate now. He shifted to a diet that only allowed him small portions of lean meat and vegetables, got down to around 400 pounds, then the weight loss slowed down. That wasn't good enough for Suplee.

"You have this immediate massive drop in weight, and you go okay, I want to keep riding that roller coaster to the finish line," he says. "But there's no thought to the long term practicality of weight loss."

Once 2005 rolled around, his wife was pregnant with their first child and Suplee was an exercise fiend, practicing Muay Thai and jiu jitsu. But his weight loss had plateaued, and he was thrown off his routine when he started filming My Name Is Earl. "I wasn't factoring in how I was going to maintain my weight at work when I was working like, 14 hours a day, five days a week," he admits. "Over the course of five years, I gained 100 pounds."

Coming out of the show, Suplee picked up a new hobby, cyclingbut the way he went about it wasn't healthy. He restricted how much he was eating, doing "all kinds of really crazy stupid diets"he once only allowed himself to eat while he was actually on the biketo go along with a grueling cycling regimen, and dropped all the way down to 220 pounds. This was the least weight he'd ever carried, but that in itself was not satisfying. "I was really, really unhappy with how I looked, and I didn't feel comfortable in my skin," he says. "I felt like a light breeze would knock me over. I don't know if I'm just big boned or a big dude, but 220 felt really, really small."

After all the hard work, Suplee was still unhappy with his body. He also had loose skin from all his weight loss, something that negative media outlets used to shame him for his progress. "TMZ stopped me and was like hey, you look great, what're you doing? And I said I ride bikes," Suplee recalls. "Then they had people talk about it and someone said 'well, he's still a fat guy." Suplee had 14 percent body fat at the time. Worse, Suplee says that paparazzi began to take photos of his loose skin for stories about the downside of weight loss, turning his hard-earned progress into a source of shame. "For the news to be kind of negative, I was like, fuck you guys," he says.

Worse still, he crashed his bike, badly. He dropped cycling, then picked up CrossFit, but busted his knee and gained "easy" 150 pounds. He was back to square one.

Then, Suplee was cast in a new show, Hulu's Chance. He began lifting weights for the role of D, a big, tough guyand something clicked. "I found that I really enjoyed lifting weights and I could get my workout in an hour, and so that wasn't like a huge part of my day," he says. "Even if I had a really long work day, I could go before or go after."

More importantly, Suplee decided to dig into the most difficult part of the equation, his nutrition. He started with keto, but everything finally clicked when he came across a TED Talk by Dr. Mike Isratel, "The Scientific Landscape of Healthy Eating". "I probably watched it four times in a row," Suplee says. "I was just like, this is not what I was being told." Suplee had bought into the theory that all carbohydrates are bad in any form, so being told that the macronutrient is actually a necessary source of fuel was eye-opening.

He switched to a low fat diet, gained 8 pounds in three days, but stayed the course after doubling down on the science and checking his lean body fat percentage using a DEXA scan.

Now, Suplee is about 260 pounds, and feels much healthier. He uses progressive overload principles very slightly over a four-week periods, then comes back a little heavier and repeats the process. He's mostly focused on hypertrophy, not lifting a house full of weights. "I don't give a crap about how many plates I have on there, that's irrelevant," he says. "The only thing I'm trying to do at this point is lose fat and hold onto the muscle." Suplee's biggest goal is to get to 10 percent body fat, then see how much muscle he can pack onto his frame. He calls it a "crazy, kind of science-y fun project I'm looking forward to."

The public reception to his recent weight loss is much more positive as well, with no TMZ hit pieces or shame paparazzi photos. Suplee credits that shift in part to being totally in control of the narrative, through his posts on Instagram and his openness on his podcast about his journey.

"The more I feel that I understand, scientifically, the more power I have over it."

No matter what anyone thinks, Suplee is training hard now, and he plans to continue that going forward. That also applies to his acting career. "I made my career as the fat guy," he says. "I dont want to be fat anymore. If the podcast is what I have to do make a career, thats fine."

All of the effort has been worth it to Suplee for the knowledge he's gained. That's what he hopes everyone who marvels at his before and after photos can learn.

"The most important thing I would want anyone to take away is that for me, the biggest change was understanding how food works," he says. "And the more I feel that I understand, scientifically, the more power I have over it."

Suplee is hard at work at achieving his goals, so the Men's Health team met up with him at Grant Roberts' Granite Gym in Beverly Hills, where the man himself, strength coach Grant Roberts, helped to walk us through his chest push day workout split.

Power Plate Pushup

1A. Dumbbell Incline Fly - 3 sets of 10 reps

1B. Dumbbell Incline Press - 3 sets of 8 reps

2. Low Bench Press (Machine Press) - 3 sets of 10 reps

3. Cable Scoop - 3 sets of 10 reps

4A. Dumbbell Pullover - 3 sets of 10 reps

4B. Dumbbell French Press - 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps

5. Double Skullcrusher with Hold - 8 reps, 5 reps, 3 reps, 1 rep

View original post here:
Ethan Suplee's Workout To Stay Fit and Maintain Healthy Habits - menshealth.com

By the 20th century, it kind of became assumed that humans should eat meat, and a good amount of it, to sustain a healthy, well balanced diet. Even more recently in Western food thought comes the colorful, or not so very, variety of fads and diets that dominate mainstream public discourse.

On one end of the spectrum you have the Paleo or caveman diet that consists of eating pretty much nothing other than red meat, while leaving out grains, beans and dairy or any other nasty pastoral food groups. On the opposite end of the spectrum sits the stoic and reserved vegan, who eats positively no animal products whatsoever. They even go so far as to feed their dogs and cats a strictly vegan diet, contrary to their carnivore nature. The myriad of diets between have ranged from cigarettes instead of sweets to diet pills to Atkins low carbs; even masticating and prayers were said to help you lose your love handles.

With so many options, how are we supposed to know what really works and what doesnt, or at the very least whats acceptable? For those answers we can turn to science and God. Religion has always had much to say on what people can and cannot eat, how certain foods are to be prepared and more generally the ethics surrounding all things animal.

Abrahamic scriptures have a number of conflicting ideas surrounding whether or not man is allowed to eat meat or not. For example, in Genesis, God only indicates that man is supposed to eat every green plant for food, but not the beast or the birds. Contrastly, in Leviticus 11:1-47 God speaks to Moses and Aaron and says, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

While Christianity still has some scripture to sort through, Judaism and Islam have much clearer and codified rules surrounding the consumption of meat and the treatment of animals. From the Jewish oral tradition of Mishna, whom Judith Prince put much into writing, came the concept of tza ar ba alei hayim or rules against cruelty to animals. These rules are drawn from scripture and have a community agreement that legitimizes them, thereby working them into peoples everyday lives. From here the Jewish community sources its rules for Kosher. The Muslim community has a very similar practice for the processing of Halal meats, the only caveat being that the word of God must be uttered while slaughtering the animal. This is their way of recognizing the animal as a creature of Gods creation.

Buddhism and Jainism have even stricter rules surrounding the treatment of all living things. These rules stem from the ancient notion of ahimsa, meaning non-hindering or non-violence towards other living creatures. Jainism has some of the most strongly codified food ethics of any religion. The standard practice is that ones diet must be fully vegetarian, except for anything that grows below the ground.

Coming back to our initial qualm, lets now confront the science and history of frequent meat consumption. Taken to the extreme, the paleo diet tells us to drop pastoral foods like grain, beans and dairy. This diets philosophy is founded on the belief that our hunter-gatherer ancestors derived over half of their caloric intake from meat. This is just simply not true, as most hunter-gatherers only get around 30 percent of their annual calories from animals. In fact, it was the women and children, the gatherers, who provided most of the calories consumed by these groups; The Hadza, modern Tanzanian hunter-gatherers, get 70% of their calories from plants.

So, how did this misconception about nutrition come to be? It came through the proliferation of the, then mistaken, Western portrayals of early hunter-gatherer societies. In 1924, Raymon Dart, the archaeologist who first discovered early human fossils in Africa, popularized their image as carnivorous savages. This failed understanding of our ancestors led us to create our flawed notion that meat needs to be the centerpiece of every meal.

If that is the precedent, then how, with an exponentially growing population, are we going to provide for that demand? The answer: factory farms. Conveniently labeled by the industry as confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), businessmen have brought the logic of economies of scale to animal husbandry. As an example, David Kirby in his book Animal Factory models a CAFO for hogs. He says that for a 5,000 animal hog pen, sitting on an acre or two, there could be up to 650 animals per barn. The daily waste created by all these hogs would equal that of 20,000 people. In a space that small, there is no feasible way to deal with all of that waste the land cant absorb it. So, where does it all go then? Every now and then, it will get shoveled into a lagoon by a frontloader where it will sit and stink to high hell. Though these waste lagoons have capacities, they are frequently ignored because hiring trucks to haul it away would cost way too much money. This toxic waste is often times sprayed over fields as manure, but unlike normal manure, hog waste is filled with bacteria and pathogens that go airborne and can infect humans.

I feel like Im speaking for most when I say that there seems to be a massive disconnect here, between the ethics of factory farming and those supported and practiced by religious persons. For instance, producers insist that farm animals are better off confined than set loose on pastureland, where they fall prey to the elements, predators, and disease. We are lying to ourselves and consciously choosing to hurt animals and people if we believe such things. Producers at such high scales budget for mass recalls of contaminated meat and the unnatural die-off of animals. In no sane state of mind could anyone honestly claim that the animals raised as such are better off confined in these CAFOs. We are lying to ourselves for the sake of better profit margins, a notion that is propagated by the growth imperative of modern corporations in a highly capitalist and extremely unethical market.

Originally posted here:
Food Ethics: Treat Animals How You Wish to be Treated - Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

American doctors at Yale University have studied the effects of a ketogenic diet in mice to measure the benefits of this increasingly popular regimen, which involves eating more fat and less carbohydrates.

Very popular in recent years, ketogenic diets are based on higher consumption of fat and lower consumption of carbohydrates. In concrete terms, a person who follows a ketogenic diet will, for example, eat a lot of smoked salmon and avocado, but will avoid cakes, sweets and other sugar-rich foods, including certain varieties of fruit (grapes, mangoes, bananas).

Apart from its rapid and effective slimming effect, a ketogenic diet may also help protect against diabetes, explain researchers at Yale University. Published inNature Metabolism, a study by the researchers showed a reduction of glucose in the blood of mice one week after following a ketogenic diet.

Read also: 2019 dietary 'trend': Out with Ketogenic, in with Mediterranean

When the body lacks sugar, it draws on its reserves of fat and begins to produce ketogenic bodies, which provide an alternative source of energy. At the same time, the body also produces gamma delta T-lymphocytes, and the study found that it is precisely these immune system cells that help to ward off diabetes and the risk of inflammation.

However, the study also showed that the opposite effect may occur if a ketogenic diet extends beyond one week: When mice continue to eat the high-fat, low-carb diet beyond one week, they consume more fat than they can burn, and develop diabetes and obesity. They lose the protective gamma delta T-cells in the fat, points out Vishwa Deep Dixit, a professor of immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine and the main author of the study.

Our findings highlight the interplay between metabolism and the immune system, and how it coordinates maintenance of healthy tissue function, adds Emily Goldberg, a postdoctoral fellow in comparative medicine and the co-author of the study.

The ideal duration to maximize the health benefits of a ketogenic diet has yet to be determined, however, the researchers concluded that ketogenic diets work best in small doses and over a short period of time (less than a week).

Your premium period will expire in 0 day(s)

Subscribe to get unlimited access Get 50% off now

Go here to read the rest:
Ketogenic diets are effective but may be harmful over time - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta Post

Jordan Spieth was just 19 years old when he turned pro in 2012. Since then, hes checked off preeeetty much every career accomplishment that a golfer could dream of, winning the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the British Open. (The PGA Championship still famously eludes him.) But as of late, Spieths fortunes have swung in the opposite directionhe finds himself in an unfamiliar position, ranked No. 51 in the world, his worst spot since his rookie campaign.

And yet, chatting with the eternally unflappable Spieth, youd have no idea he was in the midst of perhaps the most difficult stretch of his career. Im healthy and probably stronger than Ive ever felt, he said at the Under Armour headquarters in Baltimore earlier this month, where he was revealing his newest signature golf shoe, the Spieth 4. I feel rested and recovered and ready to go.

Now 26 and in year five of a ten-year contract with Under Armour, a deal that reportedly rivals the one that Nike once made with Tiger Woods, Spieth is no longer the young phenom on tour. Hes cool with that, and off the course, he looks forward to guy-in-his-mid-20s activities like overdoing it on guac with his wife at a local Mexican restaurant.

He filled us in on what his diet and training routine looks like and why he doesnt check his phone when hes practicing. And he breaks down his newfound appreciation for different recovery methods. (Spoiler: Hes got a hyperbaric chamber at home.)

GQ: What time are you up in the morning?

Jordan Spieth: I'm typically up around 7:00. I like to train in the morning. When I'm home in Dallas, I'll train four or five times a week. Its a lot of mobility stuff, like yoga, bands, some plyometrics. In the off-season, thats when youll see me doing more lifting. Im not doing much cardio off the course, since by the end of a day of golf, Ive sometimes walked about ten miles. Plus, I hate the treadmill. Ive learned to love bikes. We've got a Peloton at home. I did an Ally Love ride this morning.

Do you eat once the training is done?

If Im training at 9 or 9:30, then Ill eat before. Otherwise, Ill train and then eat after. Ive learned to love making my own breakfast. I don't cook much, but I do cook that. I'll do eggs with avocado, chicken, and apples, or apples, gouda, and sausage. Sometimes Ill have a sweet potato hash with that. Other mornings, I'll just make shakes.

Whats in the shake?

I really like Vega protein powder, and Ill use the vanilla if Im going sweet with berries. Otherwise, I prefer the taste of the chocolate better. But typically, Ill use that as a base, then add mixed berries, banana, peanut or almond butter, and chia seeds or flax seeds. I just load up anything I find in the kitchen. I'll finish it with spinach or kalesince you cant really taste it and its good for youand add some almond milk, then blend it.

After Im done there, Ill head to the course. On a typical day, Ill start with anywhere between two and four hours of practice time. Then I'll actually play. It's a 9-to-5 essentially, like anywhere else, and I stay away from my phone while Im at work. I really try to approach it like that, but the flip side is that I enjoy it a lot more than I would if I were sitting at a desk. Its kind of a dream come true for me.

See more here:
Jordan Spieth: The Real-Life Diet of Pro Golfs Biggest Guacamole Fan - GQ

The only sustainable diet plan is one which involves small tweaks to your lifestyle. Commit to these three changes to get fit

By Luke CoutinhoNo nutritionist or doctor can accurately prescribe the quantity of food required by your body. Nobody can tell how much energy a persons brain, digestive system and emotions require. So if you are really determined to get fit, choose to adopt these lifestyle tweaks. They are far more powerful, far less costly, and far more likely to be things you turn into lifelong habits.

1 Listen to your body

How does it help: Once you start listening to your body, you will realise that fad diets simply wont work because the bodys needs are dynamic. It changes from day to day based on what it goes through. On an active day the body will need more carbohydrates, than on sedentary days.

The amount of energy you expend, the kind of mental strength you use at the workplace and everything else keeps changing every day. So, how can a single set of foods and method of eating work effectively for all of us, every day? Take breakfast, for example. Do you eat breakfast even if you are not feeling hungry?

I bet most of us do. But gone are the days where we were made to believe that breakfast is the most significant meal of the day. There are some people and children who genuinely wake up hungry because of their activity levels and metabolism. But if you are eating breakfast just because you have been told to, then it is wrong. Its important to get in tune with our bodies, because once you do, it becomes a way of life and frees you from all sorts of fad diets.

2 Cut down on salt and sugar

The more we consume foods laden with sugar and salt, the more addicted we get to these. Sugar and junk food addictions are the hardest to break because of the way they tricksyour taste buds.

Salt and sugar, should you decide to consume these, must be natural, unrefined and unprocessed. A lack of salt in the diet can alter electrolyte balance, and that can be dangerous for your body. So, too, is the case with sugar. We need these, but in limited quantities and from natural sources like fruits, raisins, raw honey and jaggery.

How does it help: Sodium is anhydrous in nature. Every gram of excess sodium chloride needs roughly 23 g of cellular water to neutralise it (water from cells). Hence, excess salt intake causes tissues to hold onto water leading to edema/ water retention. It also draws excess water in the blood leading to an increase in osmotic pressure directly impacting the pressure in the heart, leading to high blood pressure.

Refined salt also hardens the arteries, causes haemorrhaging in blood vessels and a thickening of heart muscles. Additionally, refined salt/common table salt also has additives like calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate and aluminium hydroxide, which has a direct connection with Alzheimers.

Himalayan pink salt is one of the healthiest salts in the world. Its hygienic and unrefined, and great for digestion, immunity and cleans out toxicity. Apart from that it also contains 85 trace minerals. Make a switch from refined salt to unrefined pink salt (unless you already have elevated potassium levels, which may occur due to a kidney issue).

As for excess sugar, it is obviously linked to weight gain, inflammation, low immunity, acidity, premature ageing, poor skin health, hormonal imbalances, hyperactivity and a lack of focus, developmental delays in kids, imbalance in gut microbiome leading to all sorts of digestive disorders, mood swings, a decline in dental health, cancer, elevated lipids, especially triglycerides and belly fat.

The impact of sugar on children is even worse because when a child is two or three years old, the brain gets directly addicted to sugar, which can impact her behaviour. Its easier to gain control of sugar consumption in older children as they may understand why sugar is bad for the body.

Make the shift one food item at a time. Even reducing one tablespoon of sugar and salt is positively going to impact your health.

3 Eat an early dinner Your body is not designed to digest food at night and definitely not a greasy meal. Our body works according to nature within the 24-hour Circadian rhythm. According to our Circadian rhythm, as the sun sets, our digestive and metabolic processes slow down, the secretion of digestive enzymes is minimal and there is an increased secretion of melatonin a hormone responsible for inducing sleep. This leads to two things slow digestion and increased stimulus to put us in a state of rest.

Late-night meals, heavy dinners, alcohol, constant snacking, bedtime munching, and so on, disrupt the Circadian rhythm, impeding the digestive system and the process of sleep.

Eat your last meal as close to sunset as possible, followed by fasting all through the night. Then break your fast only after sunrise. This way you give your body a 12-hour fast.

Read the rest here:
The diet changes to make this year - Mumbai Mirror

Page 153«..1020..152153154155..160170..»

Home » Diets that Work » Page 153