Search Weight Loss Topics:

Page 238«..1020..237238239240..250260..»

Home » Diets that Work » Page 238

Theimpact of modern fake news as it relates to the recent American presidential election is something that struck a lot of people as unconscionable and ridiculous but try telling that to the misinformation experts or the new president who concocted all sorts of lies for their own profit or ego.

Fake news isnt new and has been around practically forever as examples: to promote Christianity, Jesus was constantly misrepresented as a white man (this still continues even today), and politicians, businesses and espionage agencies have always used subtly managed misinformation.

Regardless of politically-influenced fake news, the world has also been ploughing through another barrage of contemporary fake news for decades and this heap of plausible half-truths, aptly termed as pseudoscience, can influence the diets, medications and health of millions.

Lets start by asking why pseudoscience is often believed. There are several answers, all of them relatively simple, but mainly it is because pseudoscience targets and validates peoples desperation, fears, personal beliefs or aspirations.

Other reasons are ignorance, sheer gullibility, lack of objectivity, inability to think critically, laziness and stuff like that.

There is also the Dunning-Kruger Effect where people with inadequate knowledge develop a delusional superiority about subjects they do not understand this is possibly a worthy subject for another article.

The main intention of pseudo-science, as with fake news, is to invoke either hope, outrage or fear so that people would become less sceptical and more inclined to believe in the following waves of pseudoscience the second, more sinister aim is usually to sell people something they do not need.

The exact origins of these odious lumps of pseudoscience are not always obvious once a pseudoscience wave starts, hundreds of websites may suddenly appear in google searches and even your social media might get flooded.

The only certainty about most pseudoscience is that it is a strategy to make money, especially from gullible or desperate people.

The cosmetic industry is one riddled with pseudoscience there are creams with diamond peptides, for example, which cost small fortunes even though there is clearly no such thing for peptides are short biological chains of amino acids whereas a diamond is pure carbon and the two cannot react as there are no free hydrogen bonds in diamonds.

Whereas the food industry is often keen to hide various artificial ingredients in its labelling, the cosmetic industry seems to love labelling all sorts of spurious meaningless items added in tiny proportions, especially if they have complex or fake (self-invented) chemical names.

Just be informed that most cosmetic creams are based on simple emollients which are either oil- or water-based and ridiculously cheap to produce.

Pseudoscience is often confused with bad science but there is a significant difference. A couple of cases of bad science are the Eskimo diet and its alleged efficacy against heart disease, and also the supposed link between ingesting saturated fats and heart disease.

Both these subjects were covered recently in this column and the connections were found to be erroneous and examples of confirmation bias and imprecise scientific analysis.

Basically, they were examples of less than brilliant science, but somewhat forgivable given the technology and the data available at the time.

However, with pseudoscience, the intent from the outset is to suggest something special, a golden benefit, a wondrous remedy which is hidden and outside the remit of normal science.

A classic example of pseudoscience is the marketing of ionised water or alkaline water or alkaline ionised water and their related machinery which can cost over US$3,000 (RM13,000) each.

It doesnt matter how they call it the facts are that water (unless it is distilled) is ALWAYS ionised and alkalinity is (unnecessarily) introduced via hydroxides catalysed from mineral salts in the water or introduced by the machines themselves via packets of salt.

I have written about these machines before the only perceivable advantage is that people would drink more water and hydrate themselves better after spending so much money on them.

But there is no scientifically verifiable data that these simple, cheap, easily-produced, overpriced contraptions and their alkaline waters have any health benefits.

One particularly odious branch of pseudoscience targets desperate people who have, or fear, cancers or other major illnesses there are so many of these alternative treatments that they are investigative items for science researchers dedicated to debunking them.

However, as a little example, we can briefly dissect a surprising and very recent one shared by friends on social media. You may have come across pills or treatments involving vitamin B17 for curing and preventing cancers.

The name itself is problematic for there is no such thing as vitamin B17, at least, not in medical nomenclature. Laetrile is the commercial name for vitamin B17 and is a synthetic form of a natural compound called amygdalin which is found in the raw seeds of some nuts and fruits.

Amygdalin is a glycoside (a compound which has a sugar attached via a glycosidic bond), had been discovered by French scientists in 1830 and had been trialled as a cancer treatment in 1892 in Germany it was found to be too toxic and discarded.

You may have come across pills or treatments involving vitamin B17 for curing and preventing cancers; there is no such thing as vitamin B17, at least, not in medical nomenclature.

The reasons for the toxicity was not discovered until later it was due to the action of a family of enzymes called glucosidases on amygdalin, resulting in two further compounds called gentiobiose and mandelonitrile.

The problem compound is mandelonitrile when it is further hydrolysed by the body into benzaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide it was well-known that hydrogen cyanide in relatively small doses simply kills mammalian cells, including both cancerous and normal cells, resulting in poor health and eventually death.

As an aside, the words amygdala is Latin for almonds and mandel is German for almonds and bitter almonds contain significant quantities of amygdalin. However, dont worry bitter almonds are never sold in the shops simply because they are too poisonous. It is plausible that some plants evolved amygdalin as a deterrent against mammals eating their seeds.

Regardless of the actual chemical reactions in the body to laetrile and amygdalin, it is a cheap compound to produce and deceitful or misguided people (who may not really understand any science) are still peddling the stuff today as a remedy for cancer.

The story of laetrile is interesting for this compound is probably the foundation stone of modern alternative treatments. It precipitated the eventual formation of the American Committee for Freedom of Choice in Medicine (CFCM) in 1972 an organisation dedicated to promoting and marketing questionable cures for cancers and other serious diseases under the guise of freedom of choice.

The convoluted tale of how laetrile became a cancer treatment started long ago in 1902. Based on observations of placenta tissues through a microscope, Scottish embryologist John Beard developed the idea that cancer cells and cells developed during pregnancy called trophoblasts are one and the same thing.

He further suggested that trophoblasts were destroyed by an enzyme called chymotrypsin secreted by the pancreas and if not enough chymotrypsin was produced to kill off and manage trophoblasts, cancers would form and grow.

In 1945, Doctor Ernst Theodore Krebs, Jr. founded the John Beard Memorial Foundation to develop and apply Beards ideas. When the initial experiments did not work out well, Krebs decided that a compound developed by his father, laetrile, was more effective than chymotrypsin.

He then patented laetrile, and to boost his claims for the compound, unilaterally announced laetrile as vitamin B17, claiming that a deficiency in this vitamin is the cause of cancer.

You can still read these same claims restated daily on the internet. You should also know that Krebs had failed medical school and also flunked science courses in other colleges his doctor of science degree was from a defunct bible college in Oklahoma which had no science department. And in a final piece of irony, the word krebs in German actually means cancer.

Regardless, some doctors at the time saw laetrile as a way to becoming instant cancer treatment experts there was poor medical regulation during that period in the United States.

One such doctor was Dr John Richardson, a GP with no specialist training and a nondescript reputation. However, his practice suddenly took off when he became a cancer specialist offering laetrile treatment his declared personal income went from US$10K in 1971 to US$173K in 1973, eventually reaching several million dollars by 1976 when he finally lost his medical licence.

By the 1970s, the role of amygdalin and laetrile in the creation of hydrogen cyanide in the body was known, eventually resulting in the arrest of Dr Richardson for his illegal treatments (though he was not convicted due to legal technicalities).

By then, there were more casuistic people involved in the cancer cure business and after the arrest of Dr Richardson, they founded the Committee for Freedom of Choice in Cancer Therapy, later becoming the CFCM they had realised a lot of money can be made from desperate, terminally-ill patients and wanted to give very sick people the choice of how they can spend their money.

It appears that several similar shady confederations have existed ever since then, promoting untested and unreliable products in waves of media self-marketing this happens mostly on the internet these days.

As a footnote, in 1980 the US National Cancer Institute undertook a second trial using laetrile this time it was a full clinical trial and out of over 170 patients, not one was cured or even stabilised long-term. Those that did not die during the trial had increased tumours, as also observed in patients without any treatment.

Laetrile is now banned in both the United States and the European Union as a cancer treatment. A 1981 paper published in an oncology journal reviewed the history and pharmacology of laetrile and concluded that it is the slickest, most sophisticated, and certainly the most remunerative cancer quack promotion in medical history.

An often quoted fallacy is that doctors and pharmaceutical companies dont accept simple cures for diseases like cancer because they wont make big money from it, especially if the treatments involved cheap natural compounds.

If that is the case, then poorer countries would be using these cheap treatments and the cancer survival rates there would be significantly better than developed Western countries.

However, where data is available, the notable trend is a higher incidence of deaths for the same cancers in the poorer countries. Also the exigencies of life in poorer countries should have forced the doctors there to use the best low-cost alternative treatments and statistics would then be readily available for how they worked on patients however, it seems that even doctors in poor countries prefer to stay away from such alternative treatments and a plausible reason may be that these treatments have been tried and simply do not work.

This is not to say that the most expensive, newest treatments are automatically the best there is always a degree of cost-recovery (by the pharmaceutical company) and experimentation with any new medication, so for the people who need treatment for complicated conditions, there is sometimes a (difficult) decision to make, hopefully based on the best advice from competent medical professionals.

Also it is admitted that some pharmaceutical companies intentionally overcharge outrageously a classic case is Turing Pharmaceuticals over the drug Daraprim. Regrettably, there is not much that can be done apart from naming and shaming these excessively greedy corporate practices.

At the same time, the alternative treatment industry not long ago charged a British girl US$77,000 (RM340,000) for cancer treatments that involved intravenous transfusions of solutions of baking soda into her bloodstream each intravenous drip costed her US$550 (RM2,450) for a cooking compound that is sold for pennies. And sadly, she died as well, after several expensive trips to the US for treatment.

The circumstances leading to her death is the subject which will be investigated further in the next part for it has a lot to do with food and practically nothing to do with good science, despite being the basis of the diets of millions of people.

All comments are moderated. Your comment may not show up immediately. Please keep it clean and on topic. Offensive comments will not be published.

Read the original:
What lies in our diets Part 1 - Star2.com

You can't turn on the TV, drive down the road or go to a party without being confronted with Britain's hottest obsession especially at this time of the year: weight. Diets are a billion-pound industry; companies spend millions and millions luring you to try the latest diet (low carb, high protein, low fat, no fat, you name it) with promises that this will (finally!) be the solution--your shortcut to a thinner body. Advertising efforts also deeply affect our children, who develop distorted body images and are often on diets as early as nine or 10 years of age.

Our culture touts diet pills, celebrity workouts, convenience foods and trendy diets to help us achieve our desired weight, but these quick-fix solutions have backfired. Britain's populace has reached its highest weight in history. Almost half the population are overweight; one-third are obese. Diets steer us away from our common sense and dig deeply into our pocketbooks while eliciting few, if any, lasting results. Why?

Given half a chance, your body will balance out by itself, but this is only possible by getting out of the diet mentality and listening to what you truly need. Imagine taking all of the outward energy you expend on diets, fads and gimmicks and turning it inward, so that you can listen to your heart and inner wisdom.

There is no such thing as a quick fix; you already have everything you need within you. With careful thought and loving reflection, you can feed yourself in a nourishing way. Working with your body rather than against it will bring you increased energy, stabilized weight and sustainable health.

This Blogger's Books and Other Items from...

Healing Foods - Healthy Foods: Use Superfoods to Help Fight Disease and Maintain a Healthy Body

by Gloria Halim

Follow this link:
Five Reasons Why Diets Don't Work | The Huffington Post - Huffington Post UK

Sharon Tal says she has the key to an effective detox.

SHARON Tal was overweight, miserable and a serial dieter.

But after she had a baby and started tipping the scales at 120kg, she decided to take drastic action.

The Melbourne mother of one began trying to work out where her dieting was going wrong and came to a simple conclusion: it was all in the mind.

After addressing her mental health, she lost 20kg in five months and now shares her methods at her detox and counselling clinic, YouTube channel and radio show.

Sharon cut out sugar, wheat and dairy, and while there is scepticism from the medical profession about elimination diets, she says they work as long as you fix your emotional issues along the way.

Id tried the Atkins diet, lemon diet, protein-only diet, no sugar, I tried everything, the 46-year-old told news.com.au. I was one step away from diabetes.

The doctors wanted to put me on [diabetes medication] Metformin, but I said no. I had to figure it out myself.

Ive done millions of therapies and invested thousands of dollars and Ive cracked the code.

After she gave birth, Sharons weight spiralled to 120kg.Source:Supplied

Sharon, who got her weight down to around 80kg, says she discovered it was her brain holding her back. I was abused from the age of four to 14, she said. Ive been married and divorced twice. This was nothing to do with foods. It was stress.

She began practising mindfulness, getting more sleep, taking walks and ensuring she was hydrated, and believes these straightforward steps helped her keep the weight off for good.

The disease is stress, she said. Its the same problem being presented in different ways.

When your body is at war all day, be on guard, be alert, you come home exhausted. Its essentially basic elementary fear, all your muscles getting tight.

With clients, she first asks about all elements of their lifestyle: how much water they drink, whether they have children, the details of any past trauma like an accident and what their vices are. These can be drugs, alcohol, sugar, salt, fast food, smoking and more, but all come down to the same issue, she says. Its all trauma in the body, she said. Breathe, walk in nature, drink water, reflect on where the tension is in your body and why its there.

The Melbourne 46-year-old says losing weight and keeping it off is all about your mindset.Source:Supplied

Sharon believes there are a few broad personality types anxious, plodding along, scaredy-cat and no energy. Her solutions are at heart the same.

Clear the mind and the rest will follow, she says. You have to keep it simple.

Sharon has been running her clinic for 15 years and uses kinesiology (the study of body movement for healing), reiki and counselling to help her clients. While many of her techniques are unorthodox, she insists they are effective.

I had a client whose parents separated, then it was alcohol, party drugs, she didnt stop until she was 33 and saw me, she said. Its about changing the mindset and the programming of the mind. It comes down to love.

Detoxing is now a huge and popular industry, especially after the excesses of Christmas and January, with many Australians taking part in Feb Fast this month in the hope of making up for all the treats.

The definition of a detox varies, but it typically involves eliminating alcohol, sugar, wheat, dairy and following a clean diet of mainly raw vegetables, fruits, juices and water, plus supplements and herbs.

While many health experts advocate taking breaks from alcohol and cutting down on junk food, most agree short-term detoxes are no replacement for a sustainable healthy lifestyle.

Sharon now runs a successful detox clinic in Melbourne and has her own radio show.Source:Supplied

Mayo Clinic dietitian Katherine Zeratsky says the reason people report feeling better and more energetic from a detox is in part down to the fact the diet eliminates processed foods that are high in fats and added sugar and low in nutrients.

There is little evidence detoxes eliminate toxins from the body, and in fact, your kidneys and liver already have an effective system for doing this.

Ms Zeratsky says a detox could be a useful jump-start to making healthier food choices every day, but it is not possible to undo years of damage from unhealthy habits in a short time.

If youre considering a detox diet, get the OK from your doctor first, she says. Its also important to consider possible side effects. Detox diets that severely limit protein or that require fasting, for example, can result in fatigue. Long-term fasting can result in vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Colon cleansing, which is often recommended as part of a detox plan, can cause cramping, bloating, nausea and vomiting. Dehydration also can be a concern.

Keep in mind that fad diets arent a good long-term solution. For lasting results, your best bet is to eat a healthy diet based on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean sources of protein.

DETOX STATS

Sydney is the most expensive city to detox in, at $256.18 p/month. The Gold

Coast is the least expensive at $208.89.

Darwin is the most expensive city in which to be unhealthy at a whopping

$336.12 p/month. Swapping to a healthy lifestyle can save you $116.78 p/month.

Nike running shoes are most expensive in Cairns ($159.60), compared to Gold

Coast ($109.89)

Joining a gym is most expensive in Sydney ($72.91), compared to Perth ($56.83)

If you swapped a life of booze, fast food and cigarettes for one of exercise and nutritious food youd save $524.84 in Sydney and $626.40 in Melbourne.

Source: Numbeo and MyDiscountdeals.com.

Continue reading here:
The queen of detox: Mum lost 20kg in five months - NEWS.com.au

Buda Mendes/Getty Images

Beyonc is queen for a reason.

No matter what she's doingeven if it's the most mundane, basic thingshe can do little wrong. Bey can wear mismatched lingerie, workout in the rain and power through intense diets. She does it all with such ease that it makes mere mortals feel like we can do it, too.

It doesn't mean we should, though.

Take, for instance, the Master Cleanse Diet (a.k.a. the Lemonade Dietcoincidence, much?) that Bey underwent in 2006 to shed weight for her role in Dreamgirls. It's been talked about ad nauseum, with nutritionists criticizing its health benefits.

"I have a huge problem with any cleanse that doesn't allow you to have food. People want to eat food," celebrity fitness expert Latreal Mitchell told me. "I do get where they're coming fromlemon is an antioxidant and maple syrup is a natural sweetener, but at the end of the day, all you're giving yourself is lemon and sugar. It's not going to sustain you."

Still, I had to try it. If not for the sake of Beyonc Week, then to fully understand what exactly the singer went through.

The recipe includes: 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (not the pre-squeezed stuff, which contains preservatives), 2 tablespoons of grade B maple syrup, 1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper and 10 ounces of pure waterfor one single serving.

If you're like me, you have no time to make a diet cocktail eight times a day. Also, talk about an awkward lunch-room conversation: "What are you eating today? Umm, syrup. So, I prepped a few days' worth at one time. Note: Not only will have you have jug of diet lemonade at the ready, but you'll have sore, stiff hands, too. I guess the juice is worth the squeeze. But those lucky enough should use a juicer to avoid arthritis.

Day 1: I was weirdlyexcited to get started because, well, I was seven days away from being as Dreamgirls-slim as I was ever going to get. I walked into work with "Crazy in Love" confidence. Instead of wearing a white tank and denim short-shorts, I was strutting into a newsroom in a shift dress and water bottles of Master Cleanse. Slay!

The first day was relatively easy. I normally eat a light breakfast anyway so I wasn't that hungry. Honestly, I probably drank half the servings I should havethe lemon and maple concoction kept me relatively full.

Day 2: Now if you have a voracious appetite, you'll be starving by now. When I woke, I was hungry, but already, I noticed the size difference in my tummyit was slightly flatter. That is, until I drank two 8-ounce glasses of juice in five minutes. Then, it was bloat central. The thing about juicing that no one ever tells you is that you'll constantly need to go to the bathroom, which is especially annoying for an equally busy and lazy girl like me.

Day 3: By the third day, I developed a superpower...or maybe it was my kryptonite: My sense of smell was extremely heightened. I'd be content one minute and then the next, the fine aroma of toasted bread wafting from the office kitchen had me dazed then ravenous. I could smell food from the corner office situated on the entire opposite side or the floor. While my co-workers couldn't smell a thing, I had to stop breathing through my nose. Even just a small whiff of tuna, tomato soup or other lunchtime marvels had me desperately wanting food, only to be met with unsatisfying diet juice. I began resenting everything and everyone: myself, lemons, even Beyonc for giving me this crazy idea.

Day 4: Let's just say no one dared to talk to me.

Day 5: Not going to lie, I felt a little fragile. I felt like I was exerting more energy just to keep my body up. I went to sleep earlier and woke up much later than usual. I wouldn't recommend anyone exercising while on this cleanse. I kept a protein bar in my bag just in case. I never needed it; but, it was reassuring to have sustenance nearby just in case.

Day 6: Let's go through the list so far: Hunger? Check. Irritable? Check. Full bladder? Check. Bloat? Check. Low energy? Check. Stiff hands? Check. Oh, did I mention my teeth started feeling extra sensitive? Maybe it was the acidity of the lemons, but I felt like they, too, were taking a beating.

Day 7: Victory! I'm going to be honestI didn't wait until the day was over to eat. I did start slow, however, with the recommended soups and light fare, as to not overwhelm my digestive system. I noticed a small change in appearanceI even felt a little lighter. But friends and family who hadn't seen me for the week instantly noticed a difference. Apparently, my cheeks were smaller, my collarbones were more distinct and, indeed, my waist looked slimmer. It worked! I never doubted you, Bey.

In total, I must've lost eight or nine pounds in a weekI'm 113 (I mean 115), for reference. However, once I got back into the swing of my regular diet (salads for lunch, whatever I want for dinner), I basicallygained the weight back in a few weeks' time.

"You might lose weight temporarily, but you're going to gain it right back once you start to eat again," warned Latrealand she was right.

If you're looking for long-term results, you're better off hitting the gym. I will say if you're looking for fast weight loss, to prep for a wedding, or in Beyonc's case, a movie, Master Cleanse might work for you. Just beware: Some gain more weight than when they started off.

"The most common thing that happens is you wind up binge-eating because you just want to eat so bad," the expert added.

And there you have it.

PS: I love eating too much, so you won't find medoing that again.

E! Online - Your source for entertainment news, celebrities, celeb news, and celebrity gossip. Check out the hottest fashion, photos, movies and TV shows!

Read this article:
Beyonc's Lemonade Diet: The Dark Side of the Master Cleanse - E! Online

A woman farmers harvests pearl millet in Andhra Pradesh, India. Millets were once a steady part of Indians' diets until the Green Revolution, which encouraged farmers to grow wheat and rice. Now, the grains are slowly making a comeback. Courtesy of L.Vidyasagar hide caption

A woman farmers harvests pearl millet in Andhra Pradesh, India. Millets were once a steady part of Indians' diets until the Green Revolution, which encouraged farmers to grow wheat and rice. Now, the grains are slowly making a comeback.

Getting people to change what they eat is tough. Changing a whole farming system is even tougher. The southern Indian state of Karnataka is quietly trying to do both, with a group of cereals that was once a staple in the state: millet.

Until about 40 years ago, like most of India, the people of Karnataka regularly ate a variety of millets, from finger millet (or ragi) to foxtail millet. They made rotis with it, ate it with rice, and slurped it up at breakfast as porridge.

In the sixties, the Green Revolution a national program that led to the widespread use of high yielding crop varieties, irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides led to a dramatic increase in food grain production in India. But it also focused on two main crops rice and wheat which guzzle water.

"Crops that survived on rain rather than irrigation, and were far more sustainable, were forgotten," explains Dinesh Kumar, who runs Earth 360, a non-profit organization in the neighboring southern state of Andhra Pradesh that helps popularize millets and train farmers to grow them. "Millets began to be seen as food for the poor," says Kumar. "Rice was aspirational. White became right, brown became wrong." These days, millets are used mostly for animal fodder.

Now, after nearly four decades of intensive farming (and growing urban populations which use a lot of water), most of India is facing severe water crises. So, many states are trying to come up with a more sustainable way to farm. And Karnataka is leading the way with its efforts with millets.

There are many factors that make millets more sustainable as crops. Compare the amount of water needed to grow rice with that for millets. One rice plant requires nearly 2.5 times the amount of water required by a single millet plant of most varieties, according to the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid (ICRISAT), a global research organization helping to make millets more popular. That's why millets are primarily grown in arid regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Millets can also withstand higher temperatures. "Crops like rice and wheat cannot tolerate temperatures more than 38 degrees Centigrade (100.4 Fahrenheit), while millets can tolerate temperatures of more than 46 degrees C (115 F)," says S.K Gupta, the principal scientist at the pearl millet breeding program at ICRISAT. "They can also grow in saline soil." Millets could therefore be an important solution for farmers grappling with climate change sea level rise (which can cause soil salinity to increase), heat waves, droughts and floods.

Millets are also more nutritious than rice or wheat. They are rich in protein, fibers and micronutrients like iron, zinc and calcium, and thus hold immense promise for India's malnourished, especially those with micronutrient deficiencies.

Millets have a lower glycemic index (a measure of how fast our body converts food into sugar) than rice, which is thought to be one of the main factors contributing to the rise in rates of diabetes in India. Some scientists think eating millets could help Indians reduce their risk of this disease.

Switching to millets then should be easy. Or is it? A massive hurdle is that crops like rice, wheat and sugarcane are still way more profitable. "Unless millets match up to other crops, we can't force farmers to grow them," says Krishna Byre Gowda, Karnataka's Minister for Agriculture. "We are not trying to replace rice or wheat entirely. We are simply trying to supplement them with more sustainable crops."

Pearl millet ear head. Courtesy of L. Vidyasagar hide caption

Pearl millet ear head.

To make millets more attractive, his government has introduced a series of incentives. It offers farmers more than the minimum support price it pays for other crops, gives subsidies on seeds, and has made millets a part of the public distribution system: a country wide network that distributes cheap grains to the poor.

There's much lost ground to make up, because millets still don't have an efficient value chain. "Millets are coarse and need more processing than other crops, but the machines for these have not reached the farmer yet, and thus production remains low," says Gupta.

Narasimha Reddy, a farmer on the outskirts of Bangalore, recently switched from growing maize to ragi. "Ragi is much hardier than maize; it can endure for a month without any water," he says. Many farmers in his area are switching back to maize, because ragi costs far more to harvest, but Reddy plans to continue growing ragi. "Demand is slowly picking up in the city, and I think it will improve further now people know of the health benefits," he says. "There's no choice but to grow ragi if water levels deplete further. But we need more machines for quick harvesting, and better quality seeds."

The state government has partnered with research institutions to develop higher yield seeds and better ways to process seeds. All this is in line with recommendations made by a recent report by the Global Panel On Agriculture and Food Systems Nutrition, which found that people's diets are worsening as countries like India urbanize. That's because it is now easier and more affordable to buy unhealthy, processed foods and sodas than healthy foods. The authors of the report recommend that countries should invest more money into making healthy foods like millets, fruits and vegetables more affordable and easily available, rather than rice and wheat. "More and more villagers are migrating to the cities in search of work," says Gupta. "When they do, they lose their traditional food habits. We need to give those back to them."

But it may be impossible to bring back traditional millet-based foods that have fallen out of fashion. "You can't force people to go back to the food habits of their grandfathers rotis, ragi balls and so forth but you can get them to eat millet foods in tune with their new eating habits: breakfast cereals, cakes, pasta, baked products and ready to cook products," says Byregowda.

The government is partnering with research institutions and food companies to develop new food products. It is introducing these products at fairs, where the public is also educated about the benefits of eating millets. At a recent fair, products displayed included everything from millet pastas, chips and cakes to more traditional Indian dishes. Meanwhile, many hotels have introduced millets in breakfast buffets, millet pizzas, and millet biryanis.

The government is also approaching influencers food writers, chefs, doctors, and the media to help sell millet to the newly affluent, quinoa- and chia-seed-eating, health conscious Indian customer. "If you can eat imported quinoa, why can't you eat millet?" asks Joanna Kane-Potaka, ICRISAT's director of communications.

Why not indeed? As a child I used to eat ragi porridge, but I haven't eaten it in decades. So I try some new millet products to reacquaint myself with the grain. A ragi cereal turned out to be about as edible as pulverized doormats. But another product from the same company, chocolate ragi puffs, was almost as good as Kelloggs's Cocopops, if still heavy on the sugar.

Ragi digestive cookies from a big company were too chewy, but those from a small neighborhood bakery turned out to be surprisingly good and child-pleasing. A couple of handfuls of ragi batter in dosas (Indian style rice pancakes) was almost indistinguishable in taste, and I threw some into banana bread with the same result.

For most of us, returning to millets may involve some trial and error. But as Kumar points out, even a few handfuls of millet in your everyday foods is better for you than none. Besides, by 2050, India will need to feed 1.7 billion people. And millets could help make that happen.

More here:
A Forgotten Group Of Grains Might Help Indian Farmers And Improve Diets, Too - NPR

The Jackson Sun 10:53 a.m. CT Feb. 9, 2017

Tom Purcell(Photo: Cagle Cartoons Syndicate)

I know Democrats and progressives are going nuts over President Trump's first few weeks in office I know the Middle East is a mess and that we have no small number of incredible challenges at home but I have my own worries.

Like millions of other Americans, I'm on my annual February diet.

You see, it's not easy to be trim and fit in America. Our culture is saturated with an abundance of high-calorie, processed foods that turn into instant fat.

We work long and hard in sedentary office jobs, then eat our stress away, two or three fast food treats at a time.

We've become so fat, to quote Rodney Dangerfield, that our bathtubs have stretch marks.

We know our increasing tubbiness isn't healthy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity-associated diseases such as diabetes have soared in recent years. Gallbladder diseases, sleep apnea, high blood pressure and heart disease are all caused by carrying too much weight.

And so we are on a continuous mission to lose weight. Our challenge is that the fad diets that promise to get us there go in and out of fashion faster than the white patent leather shoes and belts my father used to wear to church.

According to the website The Daily Meal (thedailymeal.com), the Mediterranean Diet it features natural, plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts is in.

So, too, is the Paleo Diet, which apparently is similar to the Mediterranean Diet, except legumes are forbidden.

Which is a shame, too, because I just learned that legumes include alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupin beans, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts and tamarind which go well with the bourbon I am driven to drink as I try to figure out which diet to go on.

Volumetrics is another in diet. It encourages the consumption of low-energy-density foods, which make you feel full with fewer calories than high-energy-density foods. It also sounds like too much math is involved.

The Gluten Diet is on the outs, though, according to The Daily Meal. Apparently, it puts people at risk for different deficiencies such as B vitamin deficiencies, calcium, fiber, vitamin D and iron.

The Daily Meal no longer favors the Atkins Diet, either, which makes me sore.

Dr. Atkins said we could eat delicious steaks, pork, chicken and fish. He said we could eat as much eggs and cheese and other tasty no-sugar treats as we could stuff into our bellies. His diet was all the rage for years.

But now The Daily Meal says his diet is a no go? That it is not heart-healthy and that most users are not compliant over the long term?

Not so fast! Several prominent studies have concluded that old Doc Atkins was onto something. Low-carbohydrate diets may actually take off more weight than low-fat diets and may be surprisingly better for cholesterol, too.

One of my greatest dieting disappointments of the last 20 years, though, was the failure of the exercise pill, which had shown promise at Duke University around 2002.

Researchers had located the chemical pathways that muscle cells use to build strength and endurance. With that knowledge in hand, there was hope that a pill could be created that would pump up muscle cells WITHOUT the need for actual exercise.

Dieting Americans could have sat on the couch, chomping potato chips and dip, while their biceps got as round as cantaloupes and their abs got as hard as stone but this uniquely American dieting innovation wasn't to be.

I think I'll try a new, restrictive diet this February: the Democrats in Congress Diet.

I'll deny myself everything.

Tom Purcell is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. Send comments to Tom at Tom@TomPurcell.com.

Read or Share this story: http://www.jacksonsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/02/09/unlike-fat-choices-right-diet-keep-shrinking/97691912/

Read more:
Unlike fat, choices for the right diet keep shrinking - Jackson Sun

Edmund Fountain / Food & Environment Reporting Network

Theresa Dardar is leading an effort among several Louisiana tribes to restore their food sovereigntythe sustainable production of healthy, culturally appropriate foodas the land around them disintegrates.

When Theresa Dardar was growing up in Houma, her mother used to take her to visit relatives in the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe community. They would drive 20 miles toward the Gulf of Mexico, park at the local grocery store, and ask someone to ferry them across the bayou. From there, theyd walk across land thick with oak, hackberry, and palmetto until they reached her grandfathers house.

Dardars grandfather raised chickens and pigs. Next door, her uncle raised cattle. Even at 62, Dardar carries a vivid memory of her grandfather dipping a cup into the blood of a freshly slaughtered pig and drinking it. He would send some of the pork home with Dardars mother, who would make it into boudin sausages. She would also bring home some of the redfish he caught in the waters near his home.

This story is a collaboration between the Food & Environment Reporting Network, which focuses on investigative and explanatory reporting about food, agriculture and environmental health; Gravy, which explores stories of the changing American South through the foods we eat; and The Lens, which covers public-policy issues facing New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Like what youve seen and heard? Click on a logo to donate:

Back then, tribal members fed themselves wellwith seafood, of course, but also with the livestock they raised, the fruits and vegetables they planted, and the marsh hens they extricated from their fur traps. They hunted for turtle and alligator, too, and gathered medicinal plants from the land.

Thats because there was land. Viewed from above in the early 20th century, Pointe-au-Chien was surrounded by a dense thicket of green, broken up by splashes of blue. Those proportions flipped over Dardars lifetime. The land vanished until the community became a narrow neck of high ground surrounded almost entirely by open water. The area immediately around Terrebonne Bay, which includes Pointe-au-Chien, went from 10 percent water in 1916 to 90 percent in 2016, according to geographer Rebekah Jones, a Ph.D. candidate at Florida State University. The U.S. Geological Survey said the larger Terrebonne Basin lost almost 30 percent of its land from 1932 to 2010.

Today, the property surrounding Dardars grandfathers home bears little resemblance to the place she visited as a child. Theres no more trees, she said. Theres a little strip of land where he and my uncle lived. The piece of land is so small now that I dont think anyone would be able to live there.

This is the dilemma Dardar spends much of her time agonizing over. She has lived in Pointe-au-Chien for more than 40 years, in a house overlooking a bayou lined with shrimp boats. (Pointe-au-Chien means Dog Point; the larger rural community is often called Pointe-aux-Chenes, or Oak Point.) She has served as a deckhand on her husband Donalds shrimping boat and has skinned the nutria he once trapped in the winters. Shes watched that shrimping business dwindle, and the trapping business disappear altogether. And shes seen neighbors give up on their gardens and animals.

Dardar isnt sitting back, though. She and her tribe are trying out new ways to grow vegetables and medicinal plants even as the land around them vanishes. She heads an intertribal effort to restore food sovereigntythe sustainable production of healthy and culturally appropriate foodto a half-dozen of Louisianas Native American communities. That effort might inform all of us about how to feed ourselves during these times of environmental stress.

Edmund Fountain / Food & Environment Reporting Network

Island Road connects Pointe-au-Chien with Isle de Jean Charles, which has lost 98 percent of its island home since 1955. At high tide, the road is sometimes covered with water, making it impassable for school buses.

The land loss faced by the 680-member Pointe-au-Chien tribe is one of the central facts of life south of New Orleans. Each year, about 16 square miles vanish from the Louisiana coast. The levees along the Mississippi River have starved the area of the sediment needed to replenish a sinking delta. The dredging of 10,000 miles of canals by the oil and gas industry has sucked saltwater inland, killing the vegetation that holds the mud together. And climate change is accelerating global sea-level rise, which promises to overtake subsidence as a key factor in land loss during the next century.

Edmund Fountain / Food & Environment Reporting Network

A boater passes a floodgate under construction in Bayou Pointe-aux-Chenes.

Whats more, as the barrier islands to the south have disappeared, Pointe-au-Chien has become more open to storm damage. In 1985, Hurricane Juan flooded the Dardars mobile home; the couple, along with Donalds grandmother, took shelter in a small boat. The couple built an elevated house after thatits now common to see houses built up on stiltsand a small levee went up in their backyard. But they remain vulnerable: 2008s Hurricane Gustav blew off part of the Dardars porch, tore a hole in their roof, and destroyed other houses. Less than two weeks later, the community was flooded by storm surge from Hurricane Ike.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is trying to protect communities like Pointe-au-Chien with a controversial $13 billion project called Morganza to the Gulf98 miles of earthen levees punctuated by floodgates. A levee is going up immediately behind the tribal headquarters, at the edge of open water that used to be cattle pasture. Dardar believes the levee will buy us a few years, but only if the community doesnt suffer a direct hit by a fearsome storm. Its in Gods hands; lets put it that way, she said. Some scientists agree the project will have limited benefit, particularly considering the price tag.

Sitting on the back porch of her tribes headquarters, Dardar looked over a small, scrubby yard with a row of small trees at the back. Beyond that, a dump truck revved and beeped as it poured dirt for the levee. Dardar recalled wondering why the project was called Morganza to the Gulf, because the levee doesnt go to the Gulf. Then she realized: The Gulf of Mexico will come to us.

Not only do land loss and flooding make it harder to raise livestock, planting fruits and vegetables also gets tricky. When I grew up, everybody had a garden, said tribal council member Christine Verdin, who is 57. My grandma had probably five different species of figs. She had orange trees, satsumas, navels. She had lemon trees. She had her own peaches. And because of the water coming in, it just ruined all her plants and all her trees.

Edmund Fountain / Food & Environment Reporting Network

Christine Verdin stands in front of her wrecked childhood home next to the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribes community center. The home was damaged by Hurricane Rita in 2005.

Theresa Dardars 83-year-old mother-in-law, Nazia Dardar, maintains a large garden in a backyard filled with fruit trees, Muscovy ducks, and roosters. She sells her surplus produce to neighbors. But shes one of the few holdouts who arent discouraged by repeated flooding.

Imports of cheap shrimp have driven prices so low at the dock that commercial shrimpers like Donald Dardar can hardly justify the cost of fuel and ice.That leaves the tribes traditional mainstay, seafood. But even that is becoming a luxury. Imports of cheap shrimp have driven prices so low at the dock that commercial shrimpers like Donald Dardar can hardly justify the cost of fuel and ice. Local crabbers report significant drops in their yields since the 2010 BP oil spill. (It is one of several possible causes.) And the federal government warns that accelerating wetlands loss in Louisiana endangers the nurseries for many species of fish and shellfish.

With residents replacing seafood with store-bought chicken, pork, and beef, the tribal culture is suffering, too. We dont see each other as much, Dardar said. Before the spill, Donalds brother used to do a crab boil at least three, four times a week on the side of the bayou. No invitation was needed: The community would pass by, and they would stop and wed visit. Theyd eat. That tradition ended after the crab haul became sporadic. It all fell apart, she said.

Edmund Fountain / Food & Environment Reporting Network

Nazia Dardar handles bags of beans and okra seeds from her freezer in Pointe-au-Chien.

Its not just Pointe-au-Chien. Across southeastern Louisiana, tribes are grappling with what land loss means for their dinner plates, their traditions, and their health.

We are stewards of the environment: protect first, use second, said Shirell Parfait-Dardar, traditional chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe. (Dardar is a common name across tribes.) The 450-member tribe, which has fanned north from its original home at the edge of the Gulf, used to raise dairy cattle and poultry, she said. But flooding has ruled out ethical husbandry.

We will not suffer any animal, said Parfait-Dardar, who lives in Chauvin, southeast of Houma. A south wind comes through here, and thats ityouve got yards covered. We can get out of the way of the waters. Animals dont have that benefit. Theyre stuck where you put them. And we will not subject them to that.

As the tribe has moved away from self-reliance, family diets have shifted toward processed food. The boxed dinners, they are very convenient, Parfait-Dardar said. You can get a ton of them, 10 for $10. And for a family as big as mineI have four children [and] my husband doesnt make all that much moneyweve got to stretch that dollar to feed our kids. The health consequences, though, have been predictable. We have a very high rate of high cholesterol, she said of the tribe. Diabetes is rampant. And its all got to do with our diet.

Before the spill, Donalds brother used to do a crab boil at least three, four times a week on the side of the bayou. The community would pass by, and they would stop and wed visit. Theyd eat.Theresa DardarThese are issues that Native Americans deal with nationally. If you take the food desert map and overlay it with where tribal lands are, there is pretty much a direct correlation, said Lea Zeise, a New Orleans-based staffer for the Intertribal Agriculture Council. Its no coincidence, experts say, that Native Americans are twice as likely as whites to be diagnosed with diabetes and are at high risk for heart disease and stroke. The disruption of traditional agriculture and hunting has resulted in increased consumption of fattypical of the contemporary western diet, writes physician Dorothy Gohdes in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases reference book Diabetes in America.

Some Louisiana tribes have decided they cant tackle the problems alone. Six have joined together to discuss innovative ways to reclaim their food sovereignty. Calling themselves the First Peoples Conservation Council, they meet every three months, along with representatives from nonprofits and the U.S. Department of Agricultures Natural Resources Conservation Service. Theresa Dardar serves as president.

Five of the tribes are coastal. None of them is recognized by the U.S. government, though most are recognized by the state of Louisiana, which has less restrictive standards. Besides Pointe-au-Chien and Grand Caillou/Dulac, they include the 600-member Isle de Jean Charles Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, which has lost 98 percent of its island home since 1955 and last year received a $48 million federal grant to relocate inland. (Isle de Jean Charles is three miles from Pointe-au-Chien but considerably more exposed. Most of the members, including the chief, have already left the island.)

Rounding out the councils coastal members are the Bayou Lafourche Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha, whose 600 members have been forced inland by devastating hurricanes, and the Grand Bayou Village Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha tribe, whose 14 homes in Plaquemines Parish are accessible only by boat. Grand Bayous tribe has 400 members, but most live away from the village, in part because of the challenges of living with land loss.

These meetings are hours-long brainstorming sessions that draw from the collective wisdom of the tribes and the technical expertise of the government and nonprofit groups. Some of the discussions center around programs the Agriculture Department funds, like plastic-covered hoop houses to protect vegetable gardens. (The U-shaped metal structures extend growing seasons, minimize soil erosion, and protect against pests and wind.) They talk about lobbying for federal recognition of soft-shell crab as a farm commodity, which could make producers eligible for crop insurance, disaster loans, and federal subsidies. And they discuss 21st-century ways to share traditional knowledge, like an Excel spreadsheet to record changes in growing seasons.

Edmund Fountain / Food & Environment Reporting Network

Nazia Dardar (left) and her daughter-in-law Theresa Dardar walk through their garden in Pointe-au-Chien.

On a December morning at the Agriculture Departments office in the St. Charles Parish town of Luling, representatives from four tribes got together for the final First Peoples Conservation Council meeting of 2016. There were greetings in French, a prayer in English, and a business agenda that extended well beyond lunchtime.

Zeise of the Intertribal Agriculture Council reported on a federal grant her organization had received to develop marketing cooperatives, which the tribes could use to sell products like dried shrimp. Wed have to start small, said Rosina Philippe, an elder from Grand Bayou Village. We know the process of drying shrimp. But as far as the business side of it, thats something that wed have to learn.

Edmund Fountain / Food & Environment Reporting Network

Just beyond Theresa Dardars backyard in Pointe-au-Chien is a levee, built after Hurricane Juan. On the other side, you can see where water has replaced land.

But is there interest in learning that kind of stuff? Zeise asked.

Yes, Philippe said. We talk about it all the time. We just dont know how to put the next foot forward.

Philippe also talked about a project her tribe, which is not protected by levees, is working on: gardens in boxes that can be lifted with pulleys. Grand Bayou Village has tried traditional raised-bed gardens, but they have proven impractical. Tides have been higher, she explained to me afterward. In storm events, we get more water, so they get inundated with saltwater. That kills the plants. Hence the idea of gardens that can be raised and lowered mechanically. They could grow typical vegetables like tomatoes, along with traditional medicines and indigenous plants like wild celery and parsley. Philippe also described plans to create a floating garden by mounting a container on top of a 4-foot-by-8-foot section of plastic dock.

Like their ancestors did, the tribes are thinking about their childrens childrenseven generations down the line. The councils conversations are starting to bear fruit now, albeit on a modest scale. Down in Chauvin, Shirell Parfait-Dardarinspired by discussions of raised-bed gardenshas built one of her own using recycled materials, including old trampoline parts that serve as a trellis for green beans. In Pointe-au-Chien, Theresa Dardars husband Donald has started growing vegetables under a federally subsidized hoop house behind the couples home. The couple was spurred to act after Theresa talked with a Department of Agriculture staffer who attends council meetings.

Edmund Fountain / Food & Environment Reporting Network

Chief Shirell Parfait-Dardar, of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians, stands behind the trellis for her green beans, made of old trampoline parts.

Pointe-au-Chiens big project, still in its early phases, is to build a greenhouse for medicinal plants and possibly vegetables. Christine Verdin, the tribal council member, hopes the effort will teach children about gardening and will produce crops that people can transfer to their own yards. If we can get things started here in this greenhouse, she said, Im hoping it will multiply.

More than any individual project, whats instructive about the First Peoples Conservation Council is the pooling of wisdom. Federal staffers provide technical guidance, but dont steer the conversation. This, Zeise said, is refreshing. Its a solutions-based relationshipand not just the solutions that the [Agriculture Department] already has in mind, but the solutions that actually match the cultural and subsistence needs of the community, she said.

One of those staffers, conservationist Randolph Joseph, said thats the principle: People with a wide range of experiences, working in collaboration, stand the best chance of coming up with innovative responses to threats like land loss and saltwater intrusion.

If we can get things started here in this greenhouse, Im hoping it will multiply.Christine VerdinIts going to take their creativity to solve that problem, he said. Once they get it down, then maybe we can help them to perfect it, to expand on it, to make it more efficientand maybe [we can] adopt some of the practices that theyre using, that we may not have knowledge of. We dont have all the answers to their issues. But I think working together, we can find some practices that will work.

Joseph hopes the conservation council can become a model for tribal and non-tribal communities. Louisianas coastal tribes are some of North Americas first responders: Theyre dealing with disaster ahead of most of us. But these environmental problems wont remain isolated: In the Terrebonne Basin alone, the coastline could eventually creep north to the suburbs of Houma, according to state and federal coastal experts.

Indeed, other communities will have to contend with how to feed themselves in the face of climate change and coastal erosion. Were on the front lines and its going to spread, Parfait-Dardar said. By trying solutions and sharing what works, she added, we can help make a difference. We have to consider what were leaving behind for the next seven generations.

This story was reported and written by Barry Yeoman, a freelance journalist based in Durham, North Carolina. Eve Abrams and Thomas Walsh recorded the audio. Edmund Fountain, a photographer based in New Orleans, made the pictures.

See the original post:
Reclaiming native ground: Can Louisiana's tribes restore their traditional diets as waters rise? - The Lens

Its February, so the New You ads for dieting and weight loss have let up a little. This barrage of you can look like this model/celebrity media messages on TV, and social media and magazines can leave even a healthy, strong and fit person feeling out of shape and out of sorts.

The fad diets, popular diet books, and all diets and overzealous work out systems that promise permanent weight loss dont deliver except for a tiny percentage of people. What is much more likely to happen is any weight lost during the calorie-restriction / over strenuous part of the program will return, plus more weight will be gained, when your bodys desire for adequate calories eventually comes roaring back. Thank goodness it does! We cant starve ourselves into good health. We can however do our best to support our health by choosing good foods that we are hungry for and regular activity that we enjoy.

The next time you are sucked into watching an infomercial about a diet or exercise system with before and after pictures and testimonials think about this: You dont know if the weight returned within 6 months to a year after they shot the video odds are it did and you will never see this part of the results.

The 3-Step Detox Cure for Fad Dieting Overload

Here is the viewing diet I recommend to fill up on nourishing, science-based healthy eating and activity facts, while restricting your access to fad diets and exercise ads.

Step One: Load up your saved websites, and Facebook or Twitter feed with groups that promote body-positive, healthy eating and weight.

Here are a few to start with:

Step Two: Find science-based healthy eating guidance that is simple and that is filled with the foods you enjoy. Hint: You wont need to buy any supplements or other expensive add-ons; real food will give you what your body needs!

Step Three: Explore moving your body in ways that appeal to you- you never have to go to a gym. Or you can be a gym rat- its up to you. Your body was meant to move- so move it, joyfully, every day.

For ideas - try these sites:

Love and Take Care of the Body You Have

Learning to love the body you have, right now, at this weight, is probably the best thing you can do for your health. We tend to care for things we love better than for things we hate- right? Ill leave you with this nourishing thought from the body-positive website, Beautyredefined.org: Having positive body image isnt believing your body looks good; it is believing it IS good, regardless of how it looks

Nutrition911 dietitian Mary Saucier Choate, M.S., R.D.N., L.D., of Monroe, N.H., helps busy people to find delicious and affordable ways to eat and move for energy and health. She is the author of Better Eating for Life an easy, step-by-small-step guide to your best nutritional health ever! Now available as a free PDF: http://s.coop/1uzj4

Read more here:
Nutrition 911 by Mary Saucier Choate: Try the Media Detox Diet - Caledonian Record

AlterNet

Fran Drescher Stresses the Connections Between Diet, Health and the Environment AlterNet FT: What makes you continue to want to be involved in this kind of work? FD: Because of my celebrity, I have the benefit of people from all over the world who reach out to me through social networks, and in person as well, telling me that my efforts ... and more »

Go here to see the original:
Fran Drescher Stresses the Connections Between Diet, Health and the Environment - AlterNet

Low-carb diets work.

That is pretty much a scientific fact at this point.

At least 23 high quality studies in humans have shown this to be true.

In many cases, a low-carb diet causes 2-3 times more weight loss as the standard low-fat diet that were still being told to follow (1, 2).

Low-carb diets also appear to have an outstanding safety profile. No serious side effects have been reported.

In fact, the studies show that these diets cause major improvements in many important risk factors (3).

Triglycerides go way down and HDL goes way up. Blood pressure and blood sugar levels also tend to decrease significantly (4, 5, 6, 7).

A high percentage of the fat lost on a low carb diet comes from the belly area and the liver. This is the dangerous visceral fat that builds up in and around the organs, driving inflammation and disease (8, 9, 10).

These diets are particularly effective for people with metabolic syndrome and/or type 2 diabetes. The evidence is overwhelming.

However, there is a lot of controversy about why these diets work.

People like to debate the mechanism, the stuff that is actually going on in our organs and cells that makes the weight go off.

Unfortunately, this is not fully known, and chances are that it is multifactorial as in, there are many different reasons why these diets are so effective (11).

In this article, I take look at some of the most convincing explanations for the effectiveness of low carb diets.

Insulin is a very important hormone in the body.

It is the main hormone that regulates blood sugar levels and energy storage.

One of the functions of insulin is to tell fat cells to produce and store fat, and to hold on to the fat that they already carry.

It also tells other cells in the body to pick up glucose (blood sugar) from the bloodstream, and burn that instead of fat.

So, insulin stimulates lipogenesis (production of fat) and inhibits lipolysis (the burning of fat).

It is actually well established that low-carb diets lead to drastic and almost immediate reductions in insulin levels (12, 13).

Here is a graph from one study on low-carb diets (14).

Photo source: Diet Doctor.

According to many experts on low-carb diets, including Gary Taubes and the late Dr. Atkins, lower insulin levels are the main reason for the effectiveness of low-carb diets.

They have claimed that, when carbs are restricted and insulin levels go down, the fat isnt locked away in the fat cells anymore and becomes accessible for the body to use as energy, leading to reduced need for eating.

However, Id like to point out that many respected obesity researchers do not believe this to be true, and do not think the carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis of obesity is supported by the evidence.

Bottom Line: Blood levels of the hormone insulin go way down when carb intake is reduced. High insulin levels contribute to fat storage, and low insulin levels facilitate fat burning.

In the first 1-2 weeks of low carb eating, people tend to lose weight very quickly.

The main reason for this is reduction in water weight.

The mechanism behind it is two-fold:

This does not happen to nearly the same extent on a higher carb diet, even if calories are reduced significantly.

Even though some people use this as an argument against low-carb diets, reduced water weight should be considered an advantage.

I mean, who wants to carry around excess bloat and water weight all the time?

Anyway, despite claims to the contrary, this is far from being the main weight loss advantage of low-carb diets.

The studies clearly show that low-carb diets lead to more fat being lost as well, especially the dangerous belly fat found in the abdominal cavity (8, 16).

So, part of the weight loss advantage of low-carb diets is explained by reductions in water weight, but there is still a major fat loss advantage as well.

Bottom Line: When people go low-carb, they lose significant amounts of excess water from their bodies. This explains the rapid weight loss seen in the first week or two.

In most studies where low carb and low fat diets are compared, the low carb groups end up eating much more protein.

This is because people replace many low-protein foods (grains, sugars) with higher protein foods like meat, fish and eggs.

Numerous studies show that protein can reduce appetite, boost metabolism, and help increase muscle mass, which is metabolically active and burns calories around the clock (17, 18, 19, 20).

Many nutrition experts believe that the high protein content of low-carb diets is the main reason for their effectiveness.

Bottom Line: Low carb diets tend to be much higher in protein than low fat diets. Protein can reduce appetite, boost metabolism and help people hold on to muscle mass despite restricting calories.

Although this is controversial, many experts do believe that low carb diets have a metabolic advantage.

In other words, that low carb diets increase your energy expenditure, and that people lose more weight than can be explained by reduced calorie intake alone.

There are actually some studies to support this.

A study conducted in 2012 found that a very low carb diet increased energy expenditure compared to a low fat diet, during a period of weight maintenance (21).

The increase was around 250 calories, which is equivalent to an hour of moderate-intensity exercise per day!

However, another study has suggested that it may be the high protein (but not low carb) part of the diet that causes the increase in calories burned (22).

That being said, there are other mechanisms that may cause an additional metabolic advantage.

On a very low carb, ketogenic diet, when carb intake is kept extremely low, a lot of protein is being transformed into glucose in the beginning, a process called gluconeogenesis (23).

This is an inefficient process, and can lead to hundreds of calories being wasted. However, this is mostly temporary as ketones should start replacing some of that glucose as brain fuel within a few days (24).

Bottom Line: Low-carb diets appear to have a metabolic advantage, but most of it is caused by the increased protein intake. In the beginning of a very low carb, ketogenic diet, some calories are wasted when glucose is produced.

Low carb diets automatically exclude some of the worlds most fattening junk foods.

This includes sugar, sugary drinks, fruit juices, pizzas, white bread, french fries, pastries and most unhealthy snacks.

There is also an obvious reduction in variety when you eliminate most high-carb foods, especially given that wheat, corn and sugar are in almost all processed foods.

It is well known that increased food variety can drive increased calorie intake (25).

Many of these foods are also highly rewarding, and the reward value of foods can impact how many calories we end up eating (26).

So, reduced food variety and reduced intake of highly rewarding junk foods should both contribute to a reduced calorie intake.

Bottom Line: Low carb diets exclude many foods that are highly rewarding and extremely fattening. These diets also have less food variety, which may lead to reduced calorie intake.

Probably the single biggest explanation for the weight loss effects of low carb diets, is their powerful effects on appetite.

It is well established that when people go low carb, their appetite goes down and they start eating fewer calories automatically (27).

In fact, studies that compare low carb and low fat diets usually restrict calories in the low-fat groups, while the low-carb groups are allowed to eat until fullness (28).

Despite that, the low carb groups still usually lose more weight.

There are many possible explanations for this appetite reducing effect, some of which we have already covered.

The increased protein intake is a major factor, but there is also evidence that ketosis can have a powerful effect (29).

Many people who go on a ketogenic diet feel that they only need to eat 1 or 2 meals per day. They simply dont get hungry more often.

There is also some evidence that low carb diets can have beneficial effects on appetite regulating hormones like leptin and ghrelin (30).

Bottom Line: Low carb diets lead to an automatic reduction in calorie intake, so that people eat fewer calories without having to think about it.

Even though low carb diets are very effective in the short-term, the long-term results are not that great.

Most studies that last for 1-2 years show that the difference between the low-carb and low-fat groups mostly disappears.

There are many possible explanations for this, but the most plausible one is that people tend to abandon the diet over time, and start gaining the weight back.

This is not specific to low carb diets, and is a well known problem in most long-term weight loss studies. Most diets are incredibly hard to stick to.

Some people refuse to accept that low carb diets can work, and that people can eat as much as they want, because that must violate the calories in, calories out model.

However, when you understand the mechanisms behind low carb diets, you can see that the CICO model is not being violated, and the laws of thermodynamics still hold.

The truth is, low carb diets work on both sides of the calorie equation.

They boost your metabolism (increasing calories out) and lower your appetite (reducing calories in), leading to automatic calorie restriction.

Calories still count, its just that low carb diets automate the process and help prevent the biggest side effect of conscious calorie restriction, which is hunger.

Follow this link:
Why do Low Carb Diets Work? The Mechanism Explained

Page 238«..1020..237238239240..250260..»

Home » Diets that Work » Page 238