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If youre trying to be the most swole version of yourself but arent focused on diet, youre doing yourself a serious disservice. The benefits of exercise are only partially determined by what you actually do at the gym. Other factors like your diet affect your physical resultsand your health, too.

Nutrition is what powers everything you do. Its gas in the car, says Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, the co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab, Promix Nutrition, and Arena. If you eat welland get the timing rightyoull have more energy, making it easier to work out, Matheny says. But the opposite is also true, he adds. Meaning, filling up on the wrong foods and missing certain key eating windows can make it harder to go all out during workouts and reach your fitness goals.

Read ahead and keep our back-to-basics diet habits in mind, so you can get maximum output from your workout, every time.

Making food an afterthought is an easy way to torpedo your fitness goals. Too many people dont plan their nutrition out and then make poor choices when they get hungry, says Joey Gochnour, RDN, NASM-CPT, a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics at Nutrition and Fitness Professional. Consider the times youll actually have time to eat, what your physical needs will be for the day, and when you need to have peak energy for a workout. (Pro-tip: Before hitting the gym, reach for a simple carb, like sweet cherries. Think: Bing, Lapin, and Sweetheart.) Then create meals around your schedule. (More on actual timing later.)

Just keep this in mind: These meals and snacks dont have to be complicated. You don't need to have extensive cooking ability to put peanut butter on a bagel, pour a bowl of cereal or oatmeal, or make a sandwich with a piece of fruit and a glass of milk, Gochnour says.

2. Make sure youre eating enough.

Undereating is a surprisingly easy trap to fall into if youre regularly beast-moding at the gymand one that can quickly catch up with you. If you are chronically undereating calories and protein, you may not be able to recover properly between bouts of working out, says Spencer Nadolsky, DO, chief physician of Renaissance Periodization. That means you may not be able to work out as hard as youd like, whether its running faster or longer or lifting heavier weights with more reps.

To calculate how much fuel youll need on any given day to meet your goals, Nadolsky recommends checking out the National Institutes of Healths Body Weight Planner tool. There, you can enter your current stats, such as height, weight, and activity level along with your goals. The planner will help you determine exactly how many calories you should eat in a day.

In terms of protein goals, you can simplify things and shoot for around .75 grams per pound, he says. So, if you weigh 180, strive to eat about 135 grams of protein each day.

Some inflammation in your body is a normal part of the healing process post-workout, but too much can actually interfere with your recovery, says Samantha Cassetty, MS, RD, a nutrition and wellness expert who is the co-author of Sugar Shock. Food can be a powerful way to control exercise-induced inflammation to help you recover faster and potentially reduce pain and soreness, she says.

Anti-inflammatory foods tend to be high in antioxidants, Cassetty says. So, veggies and fruits are biggiesespecially sweet cherries (which shouldnt be confused with their tart counterparts). Research published in the Journal of Nutrition found that eating sweet Bing cherries, specifically, can significantly decrease inflammatory biomarkers in the body. (Bonus: Eating them on the regular can even help to prevent chronic inflammatory diseases like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and cancer.)

Every person and their needs are slightly different but, in general, you want to think about the digestion time of what youre eating, Matheny says. Typically, you want to eat something before your workout that will digest faster, like simple carbohydrates, Matheny says, listing off PB&J and oatmeal as possible options. This increases your blood sugar and will give you an energy boost for a little bit. Foods to avoid pre-workout include those that are high in fat, protein, and fiber because theyre slower to digest.

Timing matters, too. If youre having carbs, Matheny recommends eating 20 to 30 minutes before a workout to get maximum results. If youre having something a little heavier, one to two hours before go time is best.

It used to be that we told everyone to eat [a meal] immediately after workouts to help recover, but if youre eating [something] within a few hours before a workout, you dont have to rush to get that meal, Nadolsky says.

Ideally, though, youll want to eat within two hours of your workout, and youll want to go big on protein. Your muscles need protein to help them repair and rebuild, which will help maximize your strength gains, Cassetty explains. Your body also needs carbohydrates to replace what was used for energy during your workout. If you neglect to eat, youre missing the chance to replace that muscle tissue, so youre not going to get the maximum benefits from your workout, and it may even interfere with your ability to recover.

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Proper rest and recovery can help you get back at it tomorrow. Diet and sleep patterns are intertwined, Cassetty says. She points to a small study of 26 adults that found people who ate a high-fiber diet spent more time in deep sleep than other participants while those who regularly chowed down on sugary foods were up more at night.

A nutritious diet has also been shown to help reduce the time it takes to fall asleep, Cassetty says. Basically, if you arent eating well, your sleep may suffer. And if you eat nutritious, fiber-rich whole foods in the context of a healthy diet, youre less likely to suffer from sleep problems.

Worth noting: The same sweet cherries that can lower inflammation also contain melatonin, the hormone that controls your sleep-wake cycle. While Cassetty says eating a bowl of cherries alone wont automatically make you conk out, cherries can help when you couple them with good sleep hygiene, like keeping your room dark and not spending too much time on your phone before bed.

Being even a little dehydrated can make you feel off at the gym. The American College of Sports Medicine said in a joint position statement with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that 2 percent or more dehydration can compromise cognitive function and aerobic exercise performances, particularly in hot weather.

While hydration during your workout is important, Matheny says its especially crucial leading up to the main event. Its not going to do it if youve had one coffee all day and then chug a bottle of water before you work out, he says. You need to be drinking all day.

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7 Diet Habits That Can Help You Get More From Your Workouts - menshealth.com

My decision to become a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) stemmed from a lifelong struggle with my weight.

Weighing over 10 pounds (4.5 kg) when I was born placing me in the 99th percentile Im not exaggerating when I say lifelong.

The ketogenic, or keto, diet is a low carb, high fat eating pattern that involves limiting your carb intake to 2550 grams per day or fewer to achieve ketosis a metabolic state in which your body burns fat instead of carbs for its primary source of fuel (1).

Its also the first diet that has allowed me to successfully lose and maintain my weight while keeping me feeling full and satisfied.

In fact, I hesitate to use the word diet, as I think of keto more as a lifestyle than a temporary or trendy way of eating.

Sure, there are times when I eat more carbs for instance, during my recent pregnancy and now while Im breastfeeding and Im certainly not militant about my intake.

However, keto is the baseline that I continually return to because it makes me feel my best.

While the keto diet has been used for many years in the management of childhood epilepsy, were just starting to understand how the diet may be beneficial for blood sugar management and weight loss (1).

This article explains why I find the keto diet to be the best and most effective option for my weight loss journey and provides a glimpse into what I typically eat in a day.

The first time I tried keto was just an experiment to see if it lived up to the hype.

At that point in my life, I was heavier than I wanted to be and felt shame and cognitive dissonance around being an overweight dietitian.

I had also tried so many approaches to lose weight or at least not gain weight without success. As a result, I thought I was just a weak-willed person, despite the discipline I had in other areas of my life.

However, I now understand that my struggles with hunger and food cravings had nothing to do with a personality deficiency. Rather, they were the result of choosing foods that were negatively affecting my gut health, blood sugar, and hormone levels (2, 3).

When I tried keto in 2019, I lost 30 pounds (14 kg) in 4 months, and it was surprisingly easy since I wasnt constantly preoccupied thinking about my next meal. Instead, I finally felt satisfied, both physically and mentally.

Whats more, I noticed improvements in other areas of my health.

For example, a fellow RDN gushed to me about how amazing my skin looked something Id never been complimented on before.

My occasional episodes of mild heartburn also vanished, and I felt consistently energized, motivated, and productive throughout the day.

Then came 2020.

As for many of us, 2020 was a difficult year.

I was not only dealing with the stress of navigating pandemic life but also pregnant, working a healthcare job during the day, writing at night, taking care of my family, and frequently preoccupied with the political and social unrest in the United States.

Feeling totally overwhelmed, I found myself turning to food for comfort, with many nights spent stress eating.

While 2020 showed me that still have some work to do on my relationship with food, it also highlighted just how much my quality of life had previously been improving on the keto diet.

I know that keto isnt the right approach for everyone. However, I cant deny that following a low carb, high fat diet freed me from my food hang-ups for the first time in my life.

Research suggests that there are four main reasons why the keto diet appears to be effective for weight loss, including:

Still, keep in mind that research on the keto diet for purposes other than epilepsy only began in earnest within the past decade.

As a result, more studies are needed on the long-term effects of keto in the general population.

Additionally, while keto may have benefits for weight loss and blood sugar management, its important to talk with a trusted healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, especially if you have diabetes or are taking prescription medications.

Curious what the keto diet looks like to me?

Heres what I eat on a normal day:

Another thing I like about keto is that its easy to find options when dining out. Depending on the restaurant, Ill usually order a salad, bunless burger, or steak and veggies.

While keto often gets a bad reputation for being all butter, bacon, and cheese, Ive found that I eat more fresh produce now than I ever have in my life.

I know how hard it is to constantly feel hungry while trying to lose weight, which is why I feel so fortunate to have found a diet that works for me.

In fact, I can honestly say that keto has changed my life and reignited my passion for nutrition and health.

While there are many ways to live a healthy lifestyle, the keto diet is worth considering if youre struggling to find a diet that satisfies you.

Just make sure to talk with a trusted healthcare provider first, particularly if you have a preexisting medical condition or are taking prescription medications.

Read more:
What Healthy Eating Looks Like to Me, a Dietitian Who Eats Keto - Healthline

Sandra Lee, 55, is celebrating her birthday in style after opening up about her weight loss journey on Instagram. In a recent post, the chef, Food Network host, and cookbook author shared her success and explained that she's excited about what's to come. "Thinking this will be my birthday dress for tomorrow," she wrote in the caption. "Only five more pounds to go. Wanted to meet my goal weight before I turned 55 which is tomorrow but Im pretty happy with where I am-I feel great!!!"

Sandra was honest with her followers: "Healthy thoughtful weight loss goals are not easy but worth it," she said. "Sending you all love today and every single day. Sandy xo."

So, what's behind Sandra's results? Keep reading for the tips and tricks that helped her lose weight, enjoy working out, and gain more energy.

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At the beginning of the year, Sandra was more than honest with fans about her decision to lose weight. "Personally over the last year I gained 30 pounds and weighed in at 170 two days before ChristmasNone of my clothes fit and worse i feel terrible," she wrote in an Instagram caption. "So on Christmas day I started a new regime..."

To kickstart her journey, Sandra totally revamped her diet for around a week. She cut out alcohol, red meat, and most carbs. She ate more vegetables, fruit, fermented foods (like sauerkraut and pickles), eggs, and low sodium soup. She also drank a ton of water, plus her usual coffee and tea. ("I need my caffeine," she added.)

The first week alone, Sandra lost 10 pounds. She asked fans for their advice, writing that "I would love to know what your health plans are for the new year and hope that you stay the course and fulfill them alongside me. I do read your comments so please do let me know how youre doing and what youre doing maybe I can learn something too!!!"

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Sandra posted an honest look into her weight loss journey in early January. "I am literally exhausted from working out," she wrote in the caption, "so feet up and mellowing out." She also mentioned that she can't weigh herself every day because it "makes me Nuts." (Instead, she snacks on salads and walnuts!)

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For Sandra, working out more wasn't easy. In fact, she pretty much hated ituntil she started watching TV while on the treadmill. "I have actually found a way to work out and not have it be so awful," she said in a post. "I actually look forward to it..I tend to smile while doing it-ive even burst out in laughter." Her secret? "The answer is watching outtakes and past seasons of Friends."

Sandra also shared specific details about her treadmill workouts. "I just got through 20 minutes on the treadmill keeping my heart rate at 170 and the time flew by thanks to Rachel Ross Phoebe Chandler Joey and Monica (Who by the way I am most like)!!!" she continued. "Thank god for Friends-theyve got your back even when youre breaking a sweat!"

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In May, Sandra posted another weight loss update. "Getting there 17 pounds down and being healthy is number one," she said. She added that, while it wasn't easy, intermittent fasting, a healthy diet, and aiming for 10,000 to 20,000 steps a day were really helping.

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Well on her way to meeting her 30-pound weight loss goal, Sandra looks happier and healthier than ever.

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"Loving your body and yourself is super important. Our bodies are a gift and our lives are a gift and theyre both to be cherished every single day," she told Today. "If you are not happy and healthy, nothing in your life will be as happy or healthy as it can be."

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Sandra Lee, 55, Shares The Tips And Tricks That Helped Her Lose 25 Pounds In Six Months - Women's Health

The green Mediterranean diet is similar to the traditional Med diet but with a vegetarian twist.

Image Credit: luchezar/E+/GettyImages

First there was the Mediterranean diet. You know, the one brimming with vegetables, fruit, olive oil, whole grains and seafood that's been linked to benefits like better heart health and weight loss.

Now there's a new version, called the green Mediterranean diet, that's said to be even healthier.

But are those claims true? And what's so different about this version? We'll break it all down here.

So, What Is the Green Mediterranean Diet?

Based on the short list of published studies that include the green Mediterranean diet, the eating pattern is very similar to the traditional Mediterranean diet with a few small tweaks that make it even more eco-friendly ("greener") and potentially healthier as well. Namely, it cuts out red and processed meats entirely and has followers add green tea and a specific type of green shake.

The diet isn't commercialized at least not yet. Instead, it seems to have only been executed in a research setting.

What Do You Eat on the Green Mediterranean Diet?

One big difference between this diet and the traditional Med diet is an emphasis on green tea.

Image Credit: Viktoriia Leontieva / EyeEm/EyeEm/GettyImages

On the traditional Mediterranean diet, red and processed meats are typically restricted to a few times a week, per the Oldways Mediterranean Diet Pyramid. The language used in the pyramid says "less often" and meats are lumped together with sweets at the very top of the pyramid, which means you should eat them the least of all the food groups.

On the green Mediterranean diet, red and processed meats are actually avoided altogether, and poultry and fish replace beef and lamb, according to a January 2021 study in Gut.

The diet also calls for a few cups of green tea each day, a small handful of walnuts and a daily dose of a type of green plant called Wollfia globose (aka Asian watermeal or duckweed, per the USDA), which followers drink in the form of a shake.

Pros of the Green Mediterranean Diet

The green Med diet is similar to a vegetarian diet, and people who follow these types of eating plans are typically healthier than their counterparts who eat meat: Their blood pressure is better, they have a lower risk of heart disease and some cancers and they weigh less, per the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

But also, there are two studies that have looked specifically at the green Med diet, and they found these benefits:

People who followed the green Mediterranean diet for six months shrunk their waistlines more than a half inch more than their counterparts who followed the traditional Mediterranean diet, according to a November 2020 study in Heart.

Compared to people who only followed basic healthy diet guidelines, those on the green Med diet lost about 1 1/2 inches more off their waists.

One caveat: If you break it down by sex, only those who identified as male saw this greater benefit.

Eating the green Mediterranean diet for six months helped adults lower their cholesterol and blood pressure more so than those who followed a standard healthy diet, per that same Heart study. Green Med diet eaters also had lower levels of an inflammatory compound called C-reactive protein (CRP).

Although the green Med dieters improved their heart health markers, so did the Mediterranean diet followers (another group within the study). Folks who followed the Mediterranean diet for six months also improved their cholesterol, blood pressure and CRP compared to the healthy diet guideline followers. The Med diet followers' improvement was just slightly less than that of the green Med dieters.

When researchers put adults on a green Mediterranean diet, those people lowered their risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) more so than both traditional Mediterranean diet followers and also healthy diet guideline followers, according to a January 2021 study in Gut.

The diet, the authors note, seems to lead to liver fat loss. That's important, because an increase in liver fat is linked to a host of unhealthy things, like decreased insulin resistance, higher risk of diabetes and heart disease and less gut microbiome diversity.

Cons of the Green Mediterranean Diet

There aren't many, if any, drawbacks to the green Mediterranean diet. The only real con is the duckweed supplement because it's not widely available.

The edible plant-protein which tastes like watercress is a source of both plant protein and good-for-you omega-3 fats. But because duckweed is harder to find than other plant proteins, you can reap similar nutritional benefits from protein powders featuring hemp, chia or flax each of which deliver protein and omega-3 fats.

Should You Try It?

Because the green Mediterranean diet is a version of a vegetarian diet, it's healthy for just about anyone, and there are research-backed benefits for your waistline, heart and liver. As with any diet, though, be sure to talk to your doctor to make sure it's right for you based on your personal health history and goals.

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Green Mediterranean Diet: Foods, Benefits and Drawbacks - Livestrong

Evenings at my house are chaotic. My partner and I have two-year-old twins, and that gap between preschool pickup and bedtime can be the toughest part of the day.

We both have busy jobs and are always doing too many things at once cooking, trying to remember if anyone fed the dog, and diplomat-level toddler negotiations, to name a few.

Amidst all that, were supposed to be eating healthy foods, exercising, getting enough sleep, and practicing self-care. Who has time for all that?

These days, my biggest healthy eating challenge is finding the time and energy to plan balanced meals for myself and our family. Increasingly, we can do it together in a way that we couldnt when the twins were babies (Im not even sure what we ate for the first two years of their lives, to be honest). They like to go grocery shopping and eat the foods they see us eating. Im excited to keep moving in this direction together.

But that doesnt mean its easy. Toddler food whims change daily, and sometimes they just dont want to eat anything. Evenings for me usually end up the same way with two kids on the counter or one in my arms, spending time together and helping me cook dinner.

This is our healthy eating reality. Whats yours?

Illustration by Wenzdai Figueroa

I am not a poster child for healthy eating. I will say Ive trended better in that direction as an adult, but I used to follow what I now understand was a poorly planned vegetarian diet.

I was a vegetarian from childhood through my mid-twenties, mostly existing on fruit, yogurt, cheese, bread, and pasta. My partner still likes to tease me about being a milk-tarian.

What I didnt understand then is that any diet, especially one that removes certain foods, requires planning and balance. I started planning more balanced meals that included a variety of food groups when I moved to Iceland in 2015. I also started eating fish, which is fresh and plentiful here. For me, this was a life-changing decision, and Ive enjoyed exploring the culinary opportunities a more flexible diet has provided.

These are my preferences, and a mostly pescatarian diet is what works for me.

However, that doesnt make it the right diet or eating pattern for you. Healthy eating is a journey one that changes over time and you have the power to determine which foods and eating pattern make you feel your best.

We know healthy eating can be challenging. It can be tough to know where to start, were surrounded by nutrition misinformation, and healthy foods can be expensive or hard to find.

Nevertheless, healthy eating is an important wellness goal for many people.

In a study conducted by Healthline Media, 72% of respondents said that eating healthy and nutritious foods was their most important health or wellness goal.

In another study we conducted, two-thirds of participants said they were interested in nutrition content. However, only one-third said they eat very or extremely healthfully. The rest reported their eating habits were either not at all, a little, or somewhat healthy.

This really stood out to us, as it means the majority of these people wanted to eat well, yet fewer than one-third actually did so.

So, whats standing in the way?

Change is hard, and life is busy. People want more than information and need actionable steps to get started, as well as support along their journey. Recommendations need to be accessible and affordable. Community and connection also matter.

Furthermore, biases and inequities in our food system contribute to issues of access and health disparities. Theres also a clear need for cultural competence in nutrition too often, what is considered healthy is seen through a homogenous, Western lens that often ignores and others foods and traditions with deep cultural roots.

In this field, we have a responsibility to challenge and broaden our definition of healthy eating and provide more appropriate and relevant recommendations to better help people meet their health and wellness goals.

Welcome to Healthline Nutrition, the newest brand from Healthline.

We aim to help bridge the gap between intentions and actions by providing realistic nutrition information paired with actionable takeaways you can implement in your life today.

Our approach is all about healthy eating in the context of your real life. We know that for healthy eating to be doable and sustainable, it has to be realistic. You are at the center of your healthy eating journey, and we are here to support you in finding a long-term, healthy eating pattern that works for your needs, preferences, and culture.

To us, healthy eating is not about every dietary decision you make, but rather the overall trends of your choices what your habits are like most of the time. Additionally, you wont find us recommending quick-fix solutions or promoting fad diets.

All of our nutrition information is based on studies, which youll find cited in numbered, clickable references in our content. Our articles are written and medically reviewed by registered dietitians who are experts in their fields but real people, too. They have their own healthy eating journeys, and theyre happy to share those perspectives with you.

Our aim is to meet you where you are in your healthy eating journey, whether you want to learn about supplements, dive into meal prep, focus on weight management, discover diets, shop, or learn about eating for specific health conditions. We want to help you implement doable, lasting change that you can put into action today with our just one thing takeaways.

We know healthy eating is hard, and youre not alone in this. Were in it together.

Before meals in Iceland, we say gjru svo vel. It means here you go, and invites everyone to dive in and begin eating. With that, I welcome you to Healthline Nutrition.

Ive been working with our nutrition content for six years, and am very proud of who weve been and where were going. It has been incredible to watch this cohort become the top nutrition source of information on the internet, evolve, and reach many millions of people every month.

Im beyond excited about our new direction, and I hope you are, too.

I also want to acknowledge our team and all the people who work on nutrition content at Healthline, both past and present. We wouldnt be where or who we are without you.

Thank you, all, and cheers to our next chapter!

Aubrey WoodEditorial Director, Nutrition and Fitness

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Welcome to Healthline Nutrition: A Letter from the Editor - Healthline

Healthier foods are currently nearly three times as expensive as their less healthy counterparts, according to a new report from the Food Foundation.

The annual Broken Plate Report said dietary inequality, obesity levels, and critically low levels of healthy food consumption contributed to a broken current food system in the UK.

According to the study,foods that are high insugarand fat are only 40% of the cost of fruit & vegetables per each 1,000 calories.

In addition, the poorest fifth of the countrys households would need to spend 40% of their income on healthier food to be able to meet the governments Eatwell Guide costs, compared with 5% for the wealthiest fifth.

For people with less money available it is likely to be harder to afford and therefore eat varied and healthy diet rich in fruit & vegetables, saidDrKate Ellis of theUniversity of Cambridge. This leaves people reliant on less healthy, energy-dense foods to make up the majority of their diet. While these price differences remain, it will be hard to tackle dietary inequalities in the UK.

The survey also claimed one third of places to buy food in communities with lower incomes are fast food outlets, compared to one fifth in least deprived local authorities. Fast food consumption is linked to chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

According to the report, over half of the children born in 2021 will experience diet-related diseases by the time they are 65 years old. Children in the most deprived decile were 10 times more likely to develop severe obesity by the age of 11 than those in the least deprived decile.

Some of this years findings are quite shocking and sets us all a big challenge for this year ahead, particularly those who work to change public policy and industry ambition for the benefit of consumers, said Food Foundation chair of trustees Laura Sandys.

The annual study showed that advertising spend on fruit & veg decreased in 2020 from the year before, corresponding to only 2.5% of the total food and soft drink advertising spend. It said that 92% of cereals and 96% of yoghurts marketed for children contained high or medium levels of sugar.

Our new Secretary of State for Health & Social Care must confront the food companies promoting and profiting from unhealthy processed food which, as we know, can lead to obesity and the worse outcomes from Covid-19, said Katharine Jenner, campaign director at Action on Sugar.

Meanwhile, the costs of vegetarian and plant-based meals generally dropped since last years survey, with 22% of ready meals being vegetarian or plant-based.

Eating Better executive director Simon Billing said that while there had been some progress on upping vegetable content in ready meals, there was still much more work to do to make healthier and sustainable food choices affordable for the general population.

The Broken Plate Report, which was funded by the Nuffield Foundation, was released ahead of the Henry Dimbleby-led National Food Strategy review. The NSF is expected to include strict recommendations to government to improve the food sector across all levels.

There has never been a more opportune time for the government and businesses to face the challenge of fixing our food environment head on, said Food Foundation executive director Anna Taylor.

Bold action will be required if we are to safeguard the future health of our children but is by no means impossible.

The Food Foundation report, now in its third year, uses 10 different metrics to analyse and track the progress of the UK food system. This years report was produced in collaboration with Nielsen, Eating Better, Action on Sugar and the University of Cambridge, among others.

Original post:
Healthier diets 'three times as expensive', claims Food Foundation report - The Grocer

In a new study, researchers have found a positive association between the Southern diet which involves more fried food and sugary drinks and sudden cardiac death. They also linked the Mediterranean diet to a reduced risk of sudden cardiac death.

The research, which appears in the Journal of the American Heart Association, offers further evidence of the importance of diet to cardiovascular health.

Death certificates show that sudden cardiac death is a factor in 1 in 7.5 deaths in the United States. A key underlying cause is coronary heart disease.

According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), a person can improve their heart health by changing their diet. The ODPHP suggests that people eat a variety of fruit and vegetables, low fat dairy, whole grains, a variety of proteins, and unsaturated fats.

Research has shown that the Mediterranean diet, which focuses on legumes, vegetables, fruits, fish, and grains, can be protective against cardiovascular disease.

Researchers have also identified an inverse link between the Mediterranean diet and sudden cardiac death. However, the study had significant limitations, as it included a hugely disproportionate number of white participants and focused primarily on women.

In the present study, the researchers drew on data from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Study cohort in the U.S. This cohort consists of 30,239 African American and white adults aged 45 years or older, who all joined the study between 2003 and 2007.

The researchers excluded participants who were missing appropriate recorded information or were unavailable at follow-up. This left them with a sample size of 21,069 for the current analysis. Of these participants, 33% were Black, and 56% were women.

A total of 56% of the participants lived in the Southeastern United States. This area is known as the Stroke Belt because it has had a higher-than-normal rate of death due to stroke since the 1940s.

The researchers took background health and demographic information from the participants at baseline and asked them to complete a food frequency questionnaire each year to show how many of 110 different food items they had eaten during the previous 12 months.

Looking at this data, the researchers were able to give each participant a Mediterranean diet score, reflecting their adherence to the Mediterranean diet.

The researchers were also able to identify five dietary patterns:

According to lead author Prof. James M. Shikany, who is a professor of medicine and associate director for research in the Division of Preventive Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, All participants had some level of adherence to each pattern but usually adhered more to some patterns and less to others.

For example, it would not be unusual for an individual who adheres highly to the Southern pattern to also adhere to the plant-based pattern but to a much lower degree.

The researchers attempted to contact the participants approximately every 6 months over a 10-year period, which enabled them to record any cardiovascular events, including sudden cardiac death. During this period, there were 401 recorded instances of sudden cardiac death.

The researchers found that the participants who had the closest adherence to the Southern dietary pattern had a 46% higher risk of sudden cardiac death than those who adhered to it the least closely.

Conversely, the participants who most closely adhered to the Mediterranean diet were 26% less at risk of sudden cardiac death than those who had the lowest adherence.

According to Prof. Shikany: While this study was observational in nature, the results suggest that diet may be a modifiable risk factor for sudden cardiac death, and, therefore, diet is a risk factor that we have some control over.

Improving ones diet by eating a diet abundant in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish such as the Mediterranean diet and low in fried foods, organ meats, and processed meats characteristics of the Southern-style dietary pattern may decrease ones risk for sudden cardiac death.

However, Prof. Shikany believes that people who wish to move from a Southern diet toward a Mediterranean diet should not attempt to do so all at once.

I suggest small, gradual changes in ones diet they seem to be more sustainable, said Prof. Shikany.

For example: eating meat (especially processed meats) only a few days a week instead of every day and reducing the portion sizes; adding fish 1 or 2 days a week instead of always eating beef or pork; adding vegetables more frequently as a side instead of always potatoes or other starchy sides; cutting back on the number of sugar-sweetened beverages consumed each day; and cutting back on sweets, but not eliminating them (make them an occasional treat).

It really depends on what the persons baseline diet is, but there is almost always room to make small changes, with the goal of incorporating these changes into ones regular diet and building up to larger changes over time. However, large, wholesale changes in ones diet made all at once almost never last gradual seems best.

Prof. Shikany believes that both clinicians and the government have a role to play in improving peoples diet.

Regarding the medical profession, speak to patients about their diets at every possible occasion, said Prof. Shikany. Although nutrition science has made important advancements in what we consider to be a healthy diet as far as preventing chronic disease, the message does not always get to patients.

Just as patients are asked about smoking and exercise (or at least, they should be), they should also be asked about their diets during each regular checkup, and suggestions for improving their diets should be offered.

Regarding the government, there are disincentives on consuming foods that would not be considered healthy, such as taxes on things like sugar-sweetened beverages, that may be helpful.

I think we also should consider how we might provide incentives for eating more healthy foods, such as reductions in health insurance premiums for healthy eating, much as we provide for nonsmokers. Certainly, this would be harder to document for diet, and [it would] involve insurance companies rather than the government, but I think incentivizing healthy eating is an area worthy of discussion.

Looking to the future, Prof. Shikany acknowledged that further research is necessary to confirm and expand the initial findings.

The results of this study need to be corroborated in other populations and cohorts to see if our results hold up in study samples of different ages, in participants of varying socioeconomic status, and in underserved/under-resourced populations. In other words, we want to know how generalizable our results are, said Prof. Shikany.

Also, much more research is needed in the area of behavioral change related to diet how do we get people to make changes in their diets? We know much about how people should eat, but getting them to make changes really is the most challenging part of this.

Link:
Sudden cardiac death: Which diets influence the risk? - Medical News Today

Should you try "clean eating" as an approach to a healthy diet? People who try to follow a "clean eating" plan end up getting morehealthy servings offruits and vegetables into their diet than those who don't believe in a "clean eating" approach, research finds. If you're trying to eat clean for summer and consume more fruits, vegetables, and whole foods to have better immunity, energy and succeed at weight loss, taking a "clean eating" approach is a positive way to go.

Study subjects who followed the advice to "eat clean" by limiting processed foods, including processed meat, and eat clean, whichis defined as consuming more fruit and vegetables are "more likely to meet the dietary guidelines" of five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, in contrast to those who rarely or never try to eat clean, according to a study published in the journal Nutrients.Those who rarely or never try to eat clean did not consume as much healthy food as the clean eaters, who also exhibited ahigher level of dietary restraint. The only downside of following clean eating advice is that a clean diet may lead to obsessive eating habits in certain women, the study found.

Clean eating is considered a positive approach to eating, which promotes the exclusion of processed foods and focuses on whole foods. The study asked762 women ranging in age from 1755 to self-report their intake and approach to clean eating. The most important aspect of clean eating is to get more servings of fruits and vegetables and whole foods such as whole grains into your diet and skip the packaged or processed foods, high in fat, added sugar, and preservatives.

The American Heart Association defines "eating clean" as adding more fruit, vegetables, and whole grains to your plate while getting rid of packaged foods and junk food. They do encourage not justfresh vegetables, but also frozen or canned vegetables such as peas, broccoli, and beans, but not the kind with added sugar or buttery sauce. When defining processed foods the AHA points out that most food has been minimally processed in some way, butwhile baby carrots arepart of clean eating, cheesy Doritos are not.To start your clean eating approach, lose weight, and boost immunity, start with these 3 simple steps.

The three easiest ways to eat clean and try to start your clean eating practice for summer are to add more fiber in the form of fruit, to drink more water, and to add vegetables at breakfast, such as avocado toast or a smoothie.

Several recent studies have shown that people who avoid fruit because they worry that the inherent natural sugar in fruit is bad for them are going about it the wrong way. You need to eat more fruit since only 9 percent of Americans get their daily recommended servings of 2 fruits and 3 vegetables a day. The fruit has important fiber as well as nutrients such as antioxidants, vitamins, and phytochemicals that help boost your immunity and lower inflammation, as well as keep you full longer.A studypublished inThe Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolismfound that people whoeat whole fruit daily are less likely to develop diabetes, and consequently have lower blood sugar than those whodon't eat fruit every day.

Another study found that people who eat dried fruit such as apricots, figs, dates and dried sliced apples have lower BMI and smaller waists than those who skip the dried fruit altogether. Find the kind that does not contain added sugar or added coatings, obviously, since those can drive blood sugar up.

Still another study on fruit showed that those who ate fruit for lunch are 50 percent less likely to suffer fatal heart disease or die prematurely of any other cause. The healthiest people in the study ate fruit for lunch and vegetables for dinner while the least healthy ate snacks like potato chips and other processed foods for snacks, so clean eating not only helps you lose weight and boost immunity but also lowersyour risk of heart disease and death.

Most people get about half the amount of fiber they need in a day, which for women is more than 21 grams and for men is more than 38 grams. That's the minimum. An apple has about 7 grams, start eating fruit and you'll be able to keep your blood sugar in check and your insulin from spiking, which tells your body to store fat. Tell yourself most fruit is made up largely of water, so you're not only helping your cells take up nutrients slowly and steadily but helping your cells stay hydrated as well, which is a twofer when it comes to immunity and weight loss.

Drinkingenoughwaterevery day is easier said than done, butwhen we drink theright amount, our bodies reap benefitssuch as increased focus, more energy, natural weight loss, and better digestion. Staying hydratedsupportsimmune health and can give our daily workout performance a boost and improves how we feel physically and mentally. The flip side is that drinking less than we need undermines all of those things.

If water is not your favorite beverage, try infusing it with lemon, mint, cucumber, or a handful of fresh berries to make it tastier. The fact is you should have a large pitcher or water bottle at your elbow all day long and keep refilling your glass to be drinking all day long.To make sure you're drinking the right amount,Nicole OsingaRD, who createdThe Beet'sVegStart Dietrecommends using this simple formula: Multiply your weight in pounds bytwo-thirds (or .67) and the number you get is the number of ounces of water to drink in a day. Meaning, if you weigh 140 pounds, you should drink 120 ounces of water every day, or about 12 to 15 glasses of water per day.

One way to get started on clean eating is to start the day by skipping the sugary cereal, the carb-filled bagel or the added-sugar granola bar and instead focus on how to get more healthy whole foods into your diet, early in the day. This helps keep blood sugar low and stoke the metabolism to start fueling up in a way that will energize you and keep you feeling full longer.

One simple way is to try a small slice of avocado toast on whole wheat bread, with fresh avocado slices or homemade guacamole. The research on avocado is impressive since it shows that people who eat an avocado a day have smaller waists and lose weight more easily, due to the fact that avocado is full of healthy natural fat, plus fiber and protein, all of which turn on the body's satiety cues and stave off hunger for six hours after eating it.

The other way to get vegetables in the morning and up your fiber intake is by adding kale, celery or spinach to your morning smoothie along with fresh berries, almond milk, or nut butter such as almond or peanut butter for clean plant-based protein.A 2019 review published inFrontiers in Nutritionstates that because fruit is so high in fiber, itis helpful in promoting weight maintenance or weight loss over a3 to 24 week period. Its also been shown that whole fruit intake could decreaseyour calorieintake,especiallywhen its consumed before a meal or when eaten in place of other high-calorie foods.

Adding smoothies to your day instead of a meal or snack is also associated with healthy weight loss and immunity because the body's gut microbiome gets shifted from unhealthy bacteria to healthy bacteria when you add more fruit and vegetables to your diet. But smoothies add up so keep your smoothie as a snack to 300 calories or fewer and your smoothie as a replacement for a meal to 500 calories or fewer for best results.

If you prefer juicing, try that instead since, in a small study of participants who tried a 3-day juice-cleanse, the microbiome was still improved even two weeks after the cleanse ended, suggesting that these minor changes have an impact for days after you start your clean eating approach.The study, publishedinFood Science and Biotechnology,found that participantsdrinking fruit and vegetable juice for three weeks had a significant improvement in their gut microbiota17 days after their cleanse, which helped improve weight loss, digestive issues, energy, and the appearance of their skin, as reported by the study subjects.

The best way to bounce back after overdoing it is to simply add a salad.A recent 2021 study published in theRecent Patents on Food, Nutrition & Agriculturefound that the fiber content from salad vegetables was beneficial in keeping glucose rates from skyrocketing after meals. The researchers tested red oak leaf lettuce, red coral lettuce, green oak lettuce, butterhead lettuce, and romaine. The fiber content of these lettuces inhibited specific enzymes that are important in breaking down carbohydratesso the overall glucose absorption is reduced, whichin turn keeps blood sugar low.

Just adding a salad to your meal, even if you eat a full-fat lunch or dinner, helps to keep blood sugar more stable than if you ate a big meal and skippedthe side of greens. So if you end up overindulging one of these days, simply get back on track by eating a salad to help regulate blood sugar and damp down insulin response, then get back to your clean eating approach.

For more ways to start your clean eating approach to summer, try the free 2 WeekClean Eating Plan from The Beet with 5 recipes a day and helpful tips, motivation, and expert advice as to how to do it. And sign up for the free Smoothie of the Day Recipe Newsletter to get a new idea for a healthy, immune-boosting smoothie in your inbox every morning for 14 days.

Here are the best foods to eat on repeat, to boost immunity and fight inflammation. And stay off the red meat.

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3 Simple Steps to Eat Clean, to Lose Weight and Boost Immunity - The Beet

Being a superhero is hard workand training to play one onscreen is no walk in the park, either. Chris Hemsworth's trainer has just revealed the exact meal and workout plan the star adheres to in order to get in shape to play Thor, and it's nothing short of grueling.

Read on to find out how Hemsworth gets into superhero shape, and for more on how your favorite stars get fit, check out "Bachelor" Star Matt James Reveals His Secrets to Staying in Amazing Shape.

It's not just breakfast, lunch, and dinner that factor into the Chris Hemsworth diet when he's getting ready to play Thor. In a new interview with Page Six, Hemsworth's trainer, Luke Zocchi, says that the star eats significantly more than he normally would in order to bulk up for the role.

"When we go into prep for movies like Thor, it's a massive increase in food," explained Zocchi. "He eats, like, six to eight meals a day."

For more on how your favorite A-listers shape up, check out Christopher Meloni Reveals the Exact Workout That Gave Him His Famous Butt.

To ensure that he's eating enough to build muscle, but not so much that he's too sluggish to train, Hemsworth eats his eight meals spaced out every two hours throughout the day.

"He found if he eats a really big meal he, like, feels too heavy, so they're 450-calorie meals broken up into the eight," Zocchi explained to Page Six. "We try to eat every two hours and getting 450 calories in [each time]."

Related: The 7 Healthiest Foods to Eat Right Now

To start off his day on the right foot, Hemsworth kicks off his meal plan with a daily smoothie.

"Chris' day always starts with a large green shake made up of 5-6 different types of leafy greens and vegetables, low-glycemic fruits, nuts, seeds, fats and small amounts of sea salt to aid in electrolyte balance, nerve transmission and glucose metabolism," Sergio Perera, a chef who works with Hemsworth, told Men's Health.

Related: 40 Best Breakfast Smoothies for Weight Loss

To ensure he's eating enough protein to fuel his muscle gains, Hemsworth typically bulks up his meat intake.

"Chris eats a bit more red meat than usual, but limits it to daytime as it requires more energy to digest. This is unless he trains later in the evening, in which case he may have a lamb chop after his workout," Perera told Men's Health.

Related: What Happens to Your Body When You Cut Red Meat From Your Diet

Of course, it's not dietary changes alone that get Hemsworth into amazing shape to play Thor.

"It's just heavy weight lifting, training at least once a day, sometimes twice a day," Zocchi told Page Six of Hemsworth's workout routine, noting that the star also integrates boxing and HIIT into his exercise plan.

For the latest celebrity health and fitness news delivered to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter!

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This Is Chris Hemsworth's Exact Meal and Exercise Plan to Get into 'Thor' Shape | Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Researchers from UC Santa Cruzs ecological aquaculture lab won a three-year, $1 million grant from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative at the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

This funding will support collaborative research to develop, test, and evaluate new low-polluting fish feed formulas for farm-raised rainbow trout.

Associate Research Professor of Environmental Studies Pallab Sarker will lead this work alongside Environmental Studies Professor Anne Kapuscinski and Luke Gardner, a California Sea Grant extension specialist affiliated with UC San Diego. The team will use a marine microalga as an ingredient in their fish feed, and the resulting experimental formulas will be field-tested at working trout farms in California.

The goal is to create an environmentally sustainable and economically viable new feed option that maximizes fish growth while limiting the potential for water pollution during the fish-farming process.

Water pollution is a sustainability challenge for the aquaculture industry because fish waste contains nitrogen and phosphorus. These are nutrients that have the potential to fuel algal blooms in nearby waterways, if wastewater from large-scale fish production is not handled properly. But low-polluting fish feeds are specially formulated to help address this challenge.

Low-polluting fish feed varieties contain as little nitrogen and phosphorus as possible and provide these nutrients in a form that is easily digested and absorbed by fish, to minimize the amount that fish will subsequently excrete in their waste. These feeds are a great example of how scientific innovation has helped to increase the sustainability of aquaculture.

Redesigning the composition of aquaculture feed has been a key leverage point for addressing nutrient pollution. Low-pollution aquaculture feeds help to conserve natural ecosystems and provide clean water.

Pallab Sarker, Associate Research Professor of Environmental Studies

The UC Santa Cruz team hopes their work will help to increase the variety and quality of low-polluting feed options available to fish farmers.

Sarker and Kapuscinski have been working for years to develop new sustainable fish feed formulas by recycling leftover biomass from the commercial production of marine microalgal species, which are used to make omega-3 dietary supplements for humans. Most of the teams prior work has been geared toward combining different marine microalgae to replace traditional fish meal and fish oil feed ingredients sourced from wild-caught fish. But the team also wants their feed formulas to help reduce water pollution. So the new grant will help them test this aspect.

First, researchers will experiment with different methods for processing microalgal ingredients to make them as digestible as possible for rainbow trout. Next, theyll determine the ideal amount of microalgae that can be substituted for fish-based ingredients. Then, theyll develop low-polluting diets and determine both their effects on trout growth and their potential for minimizing water pollution from resulting trout waste.

Sampling fish waste for a digestibility analysis.

(Carolyn Lagattuta)

These initial steps will take place in the aquaculture research lab at the UCSC Farm, but thanks to the partnership with California Sea Grant, the team will also have a chance to evaluate the feeds performance in the real world through trials on fish farms. Anne Kapuscinski and Luke Gardner will co-lead this collaboration with a small group of trout farms in California. Theyll also recruit other leaders from across the aquaculture industry to learn more about low-polluting diets and build commercial interest.

Were thrilled that this grant allows us to test our new diets on commercial trout farms. The proof is in the puddingor in this case, on the fish farmso I think this will go a long way toward convincing more farmers and aquafeed manufacturers to adopt low-polluting diets.

Anne Kapuscinski

Research collaborators on the project will also model the economic feasibility of the new feed at scale. And a life cycle assessment will compare the overall environmental impact of the new formula with conventional feedfrom the initial production of feed ingredients all the way through to the final fish filletacross a wide range of impact categories including greenhouse gas and eutrophication emissions, water consumption, and biotic resource use.

Sarker and Kapuscinski have been experimenting with recycled marine microalgal biomass as an alternative feed ingredient in part because they believe it has the potential to be more sustainable than conventional feed ingredients, like fish meal and fish oil or terrestrial crops, like corn, wheat, or soy. The life cycle assessment of their feed will provide valuable new insight into that question.

Ultimately, as aquaculture grows to meet global protein needs, the team hopes continued research will ensure that the industrys sustainability keeps growing alongside it.

Aquaculture has gotten a bad reputation with American consumers, and this slows down the progress of aquaculture, especially for species like farmed salmon or farmed trout where their required feeding has a higher environmental impact, Sarker said. But that impact will likely continue to be reduced through research and innovations that find better ways to feed fish and help to encourage the best, most responsible practices in aquaculture.

Excerpt from:
New research on aquaculture feed will test alternative ingredients to help minimize water pollution - Lookout Santa Cruz

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