Does Calorie Counting Work for Long Term Weight Loss?

Professor David Ludwig, the director of Obesity Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and teacher at Harvard Uni Nutrition Department is a well-known researcher and specialist in the glycemic index and obesity and in one of his interviews he explains the best and most simple way to lose weight.

In one sentence his thoughts can be summarized as: “Ignore the calorie count and simply worry about the quality and nutritional value of what you eat”. Decreasing your calorie intake, which is the most common and the oldest approach to losing weight, is simply not the way to go for long-term weight loss and may only work in the short run. Although at the end of the day it is true that we need to take in fewer calories than we burn off to be able to lose weight,  this is not all there is to it.

And there is only a single simple reason for this to not work: The lower your calorie intake is and the more you starve your body the more hungry you will feel, your stress hormones will be on the rise and your metabolism will go down. And it will just be very hard for you to lose weight by limiting your calorie intake. Only a very small part of the human population can actually lose weight and maintain a healthy weight this way, the majority of the people can not.

Most of what Americans and rest of the modern society eat these days are super processed unhealthy foods that are digested very quickly and that cause a spike in your blood sugar, then a failure in metabolism. Processed carbs increase your levels of insulin, which is pretty much like the fertilizer to fat cells. But if you consume more of raw and whole foods, these will be digested much slower than processed stuff and will cause a subtle increase in blood glucose and go back to normal pretty smoothly.

The calories will be oxidized by your brain and other parts of your system rather than being stored in the fatty tissue. So in this case what you need to do is pretty simple but may take a little time to get used to, especially if you have been eating badly for a long time. You need to get rid of any processed or refined foods, including bread, pastries, sweets, white rice, and most of the breakfast cereals from your daily diet and replace them with legumes, veggies and whole grains for dietary fiber intake.

Eat adequate amounts of protein, animal and vegetable sources as they make you feel full quicker and the amino acids offer a variety of benefits for your body. And lastly eat more of healthy fats like olives, olive oil, salmon, mackerel, nuts, seeds and more, as they will also lead to satiety pretty fast with a very little effect on insulin, the fat fertilizer. Dr. Ludwig says that the blood glucose, stress hormone, and insulin levels act like the waves in the sea, simply rise and fall slowly and smoothly, as compared to the tsunami-like movements of the highly processed foods.

Your general hunger levels will decrease throughout the day, you will eat and fast as you’re feeling full longer, your fat cells will be calmer and store less of fat, and your metabolism level will increase. This is exactly what you need, to lose weight and maintain your physique in the long-run. And there is simply no reason to deprive or torture yourself and feel hungry all the time. You just need to avoid any industrial or overly-processed carbs to be able to not increase your insulin and fat cells storing calories. Work with your body, not against it and just give it what it needs and you will feel stronger and healthier over time.

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Is Cinnamon Good for Weight Loss?

Cinnamon is one of the oldest and most widely used spices in the world. It is used either in the form of cinnamon sticks from barks or by crushing it into cinnamon powder, which is a more common form that can be found at the supermarkets. It helps stimulate thermogenesis, by promoting the fat metabolism in adipocytes.

Cinnamon was already studied and is widely known for its benefits in diseases like type-2 diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity and Alzheimer’s. People also have been using it in home remedy mixtures against sore throats and coughs. The cinnamaldehyde molecule that makes up the ninety percent of cinnamon gives it the nice smell and taste and is proven to prevent obesity in lab mice.

Cinnamon is very high in antioxidants that help fight the free radicals- a teaspoon of cinnamon is equal to a cup of pomegranate juice in terms of antioxidant content. And when the researchers injected the cinnamic aldehyde into the human adipocytes which store energy as fat- lipids. In the old days, the human body would convert the extra stored fat into energy but these days you have a problem when you have excess fat in your body.

Cinnamon helps maintain steady blood glucose levels and by lowering both the blood glucose and cholesterol it helps relieve the pancreas, decrease the inflammation and stimulate the metabolism. Researchers found that cinnamal aldehyde molecule is linked to the improved gene expression for stimulation lipid metabolism. They also observed an increase in Fgf21 and Ucp1 proteins that are part of the heat production process in your body, thermogenesis.

By activating metabolism your body is more able to burn the extra fat. Cinnamon is already known to warm the body in winter months, increasing the metabolism by the thermogenesis process which also clearly helps with weight loss. It creates heat in the human body because of a chemical reaction. Your body reacts to this heat increase by accelerating the metabolism to equilibrate the body temperature. This is a good way of burning the excess calories.

The researchers achieved the results by observing people of different ages and body mass indices. It is really quite simple: By thermogenesis, cinnamaldehyde molecule in cinnamon activates the metabolic activity of lipids and cinnamon helps fight weight problems and obesity. But further research is certainly needed to validate these results of a limited study. And you should not consume large amounts of cinnamon hoping to lose weight faster.

Different types of cinnamon from different parts of the world have varying amounts of coumarin compound that thins the blood, which may lead to hemorrhage if you consume too much overtime and especially if you’re taking anticoagulant drugs. And most of the cinnamon you can buy at the shops are the cassia variety that is high in coumarin, due to lower cost.

You can eat cinnamon in either powder or bark/stick form, drink as a tea, use it in your dessert and in many other ways- in your cookies, cakes, soups. The recommended daily dose is half to 3/4 teaspoon of powder or 1 to 4g of bark. And with cinnamon oil, the dose is usually up to 0.2g each day. You can prepare cinnamon tea with honey and have it before bed at night and when you wake up early in the morning.

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Are Smoothies Better for You than Juices and Whole Fruits?

Generally speaking, smoothies are much healthier than sodas and juices. And consuming smoothies makes you include more of fruits and vegetables to your diet, which are often high in healthy nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. But if you have too much of them they can be bad for your health, mainly because of the high fructose and calorie intake.

Colourful, fruity, healthy, tasty and with a huge variety, with hundreds of recipes coming up on the internet every day, smoothies have been very popular for quite some time. They are delicious and it is very easy to consume lots of them without worrying about or counting calories. But when you look at the smoothie consumption of an average adult, smoothies are not as harmless as they appear.

First of all, drinking a glass of smoothie is not as filling as eating a whole fruit. Because even though everything is kept in the glass unlike in juicing, dietary fiber is shredded into pieces. It is good that a lot of consumers are replacing sodas with juices and smoothies as they are better for your health. And because they have the impression that they are not drinking something bad, they end up drinking in large quantities, taking in too many calories from fructose- the natural sugar found in fruits.

If you make your smoothie with say four oranges your sugar intake will be equal to that of a glass of Coke. Very sweet drinks must be consumed in moderation. It is true that having a glass of smoothie will make it easier for you to have your five fruits and veggies per day, but will not be as filling as eating a whole fruit. Because the fiber structure will be changed and the filling factor decreased but is certainly more filling than a glass of juice.

It is always better to make your own smoothie with the ingredients of your choice as the store-bought smoothies are often loaded with sugar and calories to make them tastier. You need to use a certain amount of liquid in your smoothie to be able to make the smoothie blender blend the mixture better. And that liquid should better be water, milk or coconut water rather than fruit juice.

When you make your breakfast smoothie right it will give you plenty of minerals, vitamins, dietary fiber, antioxidants, protein, and water. And this will be a great way to start your day. A diet that includes fruits are linked to reduced risks of strokes and other cardiovascular complications as fruits include nutrients like folate, vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber that are known to protect heart health.

Smoothies are not just about fruits either, they are also a way to eat raw vegetables like carrots and spinach, Omega-3 fatty acids from chia, flax and hemp seeds, calcium and protein from yogurt and milk and also protein powder. Liquid meals get out of your stomach faster than solid foods and leaving you hungry much sooner and your energy levels and concentration might be gone well before lunchtime.

You will always drink a big glass of smoothie much faster than eating an equal calorie breakfast, like porridge with seeds and dried fruits. And this can be a bit of a problem as your brain takes some time to register satiety. Please do not assume that the smoothies you get at the stores are made with whole fruits only, their major ingredients are fruits juices and puree concentrates.

A standard breakfast smoothie of fruits, milk, seeds, protein powder can give you more than 5-600 calories, which is equal to that of a large burger. And it is probably more nutritious than a burger, but if you see it as a drink to have with your meal or a snack to have in-between meals snack you’d be quickly piling up on calories. Like with anything in life and in nutrition, moderation is the key here. If you eat or drink too much of the good thing, you will put on weight.

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Selenium, Healthy Aging and Longevity

One of the recent studies by Akbaraly and C. Berr was based on the results obtained by the Arterial Aging Study of 1991. It examined the effects of nutrition on aging and looked at the correlation between mortality and the amount of selenium in blood. This was quite a comprehensive study that covered 1400 older adults aged between 59 and 71.

The study found that selenium concentrations in the blood may well be related to longevity. 101 people that died during the study had fewer amounts of selenium in their blood 1.01 μmol / L vs 1.10 μmol / L. And 45 of these people died because of different cancers and they concluded that the lack of selenium may well be related to cancer.

22 people died because of cardiovascular problems but the team could not find a link between low selenium levels and this type of death. The death risk was multiplied by 1.5 per each decrease of 0.2 μmol / L of selenium in blood. The team analyzed all the data on hand very thoroughly and they had a look at the relationship between oxidative stress indicators like the glutathione peroxidase and vitamin E.

There was no link between the oxidative stress parameters but selenium levels and mortality were definitely related. Selenium was first discovered by the Swedish chemists Gahn and Berzelius in 1817 and the toxicity of the element was pointed out at the time. Then in 1950s experts found out that selenium can be risky if found in too small or too large amounts in the body.

The trace element selenium is integrated into the form of an amino acid in selenoproteins that are involved in keeping the balance between the free radical production and your body’s defense system. So you will actually find that selenium is involved in a variety of physiological processes in the body like the carcinogens, heart disease, viral infections, immune system, reproduction and viral infections.

Oxidative stress is the main connection between selenium and mortality. The glutathione peroxidase enzyme for which selenium is necessary for its proper functioning is important for defending your body. However, the link found between selenium and mortality is just a hypothesis at this stage. Further studies are needed, to apply the same to other populations and verify the dosage of the enzymes.

Selenium is found in high amounts in chicken, turkey, beef, pork, fish, shellfish, eggs, and also in adequate amounts in legumes- peas and beans. But taking it as a supplement can be a little risky as high amounts of selenium can be toxic for your body. And we do not know the exact amount needed for the elderly and/or how much of selenium is left in the body after you take the supplement. WHO recommends 400 mcg per day rather than the 800 mpg that was recommended earlier, for a larger safety margin.

The German scientist Klaus Schwarz discovered that his lab rats were developing the liver disease because of their source of protein- torula yeast lacking selenium. And this stopped when he switched them from torula yeast to baker’s yeast. There is no doubt that selenium plays very important roles in your body by integrating into 25 or so selenoproteins throughout your body: Removal of dangerous toxins, a powerful defense mechanism against cancer, maintaining the immune system, supporting optimal thyroid function and more.

Another Chinese study that had a look at 446 people’s plasma selenium levels, 238 of which were between 90 and 100 years of age and 208 people were over 100 years old. They found that the oldest had the highest concentrations of selenium, zinc and other minerals that are essential for body’s defenses. In a few studies carried out in the 90s and later, selenium supplementation was shown to protect against and reduce cancer rates by about 24%, especially the prostate, colorectal and lung cancers.

And selenium deficiency was linked to increased cancer risk (liver, stomach, lung, esophagus, and bladder) in many other large-scale epidemiological studies. The three forms of selenium that are most useful for fighting cancer are sodium selenite (boost’s immune response to abnormal cells), L-selenomethionine (stops cancer at the earliest stages), and selenium-methyl L-selenocysteine (induces apoptosis in cancer cells, kills the mature cancer cells that have been missed earlier). And it is not just about cancer, but also about preventing DNA damage and a variety of age-related chronic diseases like cognitive decline, and cardiovascular diseases.

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Magnesium as a Natural Antidepressant

According to a recent study, if people suffering from depression turn to magnesium supplements or foods that are rich in magnesium for a couple of weeks, their conditions will improve with reduced anxiety and symptoms. So it would not be wrong to assume that magnesium can offer an efficient and perfectly safe alternative to depression drugs.

About 5% of the world population- 350 million people suffer from depression at different levels- mild to heavy. Depression medications are not successful at treating all of these patients. Almost half of them are still depressed after going on an antidepressant treatment which often act like just a band-aid. And there may be side effects as you would imagine.

There are a variety of studies that found a close association between magnesium intake and depression symptoms. According to another study by University of Vermont, only 248mg supplementation of magnesium each day resulted in a significant decrease in depression symptoms. So you will be both improving the magnesium amount in  your body and your depression symptoms. There is no doubt that anyone can benefit from a daily  magnesium supplement.

The daily recommended intake is 6mg for each kg of your weight. So if you weigh 70kg, you need roughly 6 x 70 = 420g of magnesium intake per day.  You can either take a magnesium supplement every day or eat foods that are rich in magnesium mineral. These foods include the whole grains, dark chocolate, legumes- lentils, beans, chickpeas etc., green vegetables, nuts, fresh or dried fruits and mineral waters. You will also find small amounts of magnesium in dairy products, fish and meat.

Magnesium is best known for its role in regulating blood pressure and rhythm of heart and fortifying bones. It offers great benefits for brain, kidney and cardiovascular health. It also has a very clear role in fighting inflammation, which is a part of depression. There aren’t any known significant side effects of magnesium supplementation. But excessive intake can upset your tummy and cause diarrhea.

Magnesium as an extra supplement is not recommended for people with kidney problems as it may be harmful to them. Magnesium mineral affects the hormones, enzymes and neurotransmitters that are related to your mood. It is confirmed by different scientists that magnesium is a low-cost, safe but quite effective way to approach the depression problem. Magnesium supplement will cost you just 10 cents or less a day.

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