Simple ways for cutting calories

For many, each new year starts out the same way, with a resolution to lose weight and begin that old familiar diet odyssey that usually ends with very little long term success. It goes without saying that all of these best laid New Year’s resolution plans tend to fall by the wayside during the year. So...why not make some simple changes that will help you lose weight with very little suffering? In fact, making some simple substitutes for fat laden high calorie foods may have a dramatic affect on overall nutrition and weight loss.

Changing the type of meat you eat can have a huge impact on the amount of calories you consume. For example, instead of using ground beef with a twenty to thirty percent fat content, choose lean ground beef that is ninety percent lean and you will have cut between forty and seventy five calories off a three ounce portion.

You may wish to eliminate red meat all together. Recent recommendations advise individuals to consume no more than 18 ounces of red meat weekly in order to reduce the risk of colon cancer. A good substitute for ground beef is ground turkey or soy based vegetable patties. When used in chili, casseroles, or sauces the switch may not even be noticed.

Fat can come from unlikely sources such as prepared tomato sauce and paste. A healthy substitute is diced or pureed tomatoes, with a calorie content of about twenty-five calories for a half cup of diced tomatoes. Dice or pureed tomatoes are extremely low in calories when compared to processed tomato sauce that may contain anywhere from seventy to one hundred twenty calories per serving.

Another way to reduce the calories in your food (other than lowering fat content) is to increase your portion of vegetables. Usually, vegetables contain very fewer calories; consequently any dish that contains a large portion of vegetables has fewer calories. Another added benefit to increased vegetable consumption is getting added dietary fiber and vitamins, especially antioxidants that may help guard against some forms of cancer.

Fish is Probably Healthy, Even With Mercury

If you are one of the many Americans that have decided to forgo fish because of the potential mercury risk, then you may want to think again. Although mercury is found in some fish, the risk of not eating fish might be worse than consuming mercury.

Fish are a high source of Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3’s protect the body against cardiovascular disease and can cut heart attack risk by a third.

Not all fish have the same levels of mercury and studies have shown that fish must be consumed frequently (more than three servings per day, a few times a week) over a period of months or years to pose a threat. The threat that is posed is still under question. It appears that neurological symptoms can be found in those who eat fish high in mercury on a regular basis, such as sensory imbalance, but even those symptoms have been shown to go away when mercury is taken from the diet.

If you love fish, or simply want to supply yourself with Omega-3 fatty acids and keep yourself heart healthy, you should be aware of the safest practices for consuming fish. Shellfish such as crab, lobster, scallops and shrimp is the best choice; they are small and live short lives, making them lower in mercury. Tuna, which is high in Omega-3’s, is also a bit higher in mercury. Eating light tuna can cut your mercury intake, but it will also lower your Omega-3 fatty acid intake. Eating a diet with a variety of fish is safest. Eat salmon, tuna and shellfish, but vary your intake.

This advice does not hold true for women who are trying to become pregnant, are pregnant, or are nursing. These women should cut fish from their diet and find supplemental ways to add Omega-3’s to their diet. Infants are more susceptible to mercury risks.

Acupuncture Not Just a Placebo

There are numerous studies being conducted to determine whether acupuncture is truly effective as a pain reducer, or whether the age-old tradition of relieving pain is simply producing a placebo effect.

One such study, conducted by the University College in London and Southampton University, took it a step further by employing a brain scan on its study participants to see which parts of the brain are being affected during acupuncture.

The study used positron emission tomography (PET) scans and involved 14 volunteers who went under scrutiny three times each.

One scan was done while the participants were given treatment with ‘fake’ needles – blunt needles that touched the acupuncture points, but did not break the skin. During this session they were told that the needles would not break the skin.

The next treatment was conducted with ‘trick’ needles that appeared to break the skin, though they only disappeared into the body of the needle to give the illusion of piercing the skin.

The third treatment was regular acupuncture. The results were published in the journal NeuroImage.

What they found was that the ‘fake’ treatment made patients brains light up in the areas that signified touch, but not pain. The second round with ‘trick’ needles did, in fact, light up areas of the brain associated with pain and also produced natural opiates to relieve it. The third round of actual acupuncture activated the same pain areas and natural opiates as the trick needles, but also activated the insular, an area involved in pain modulation.

The results were very positive and pointed toward the fact that acupuncture really does produce pain relieving results and not just a placebo effect.

While this is encouraging, there will surely be many more studies and trials to test the effectiveness of acupuncture on pain relief.

Depression, Social Interaction, Endorphins, and Exercise

The last thing that most people want to do when they are feeling low is head to an aerobics class, but that is exactly what they should do according to research. Exercise helps uplift one’s mood and can help people feel better socially, biologically and physically.

A survey conducted by the Mental Health Foundation found that out of 200 English general practitioners, 22% suggest exercise to their patients in addition to antidepressants to help them cope with mild forms of depression. Three years ago only 5% of general practitioners were suggesting exercise for depression. The same survey found that 61% felt that exercise was ‘effective or very effective’ for depression, up from 41% three years ago.

According to research, exercise helps depression in a myriad of ways. Going to a gym or other social arena for working out allows for social interaction and can reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation. It also allows for meeting others who are also bettering themselves and working on self improvement goals. It increases body image and self esteem, allows for goal setting and achievement and most of all, releases endorphins – feel-good brain chemicals that promote well being and uplift the mood.

So the next time you’re feeling low, instead of grabbing the nearest sweet-tooth satisfier and vegetating in front of the TV, lace up your sneakers and head out the door!

Type II Diabetes, Weight Loss, and Gastric Banding

Here's another tidbit from the Sunday issue of Parade. This one I found particularly interesting for several reasons. A study conducted in Australia has found that gastric banding can result in enough substantial weight loss to actually eliminate type II diabetes. What is gastric banding? A band of silicone is actually inflated around the top portion of the stomach. Why? To restrict food intake. Of those individuals who used gastric banding, 73 percent lost approximately 21 percent of their body weight and found that their type II diabetes reversed.

This news is amazing and should be inspiring to those who have type II diabetes. And there are insights that can be taken from this. Even if a person doesn't have this procedure done, it is fairly obvious that weight loss is vital to controlling type II.

A person with type II should really do the following:

1. Stay compliant with their medications. The reason is simple. You want to control your blood sugar levels, avoid glucose spikes, and keep the pressure off your pancreas.

Spikes in blood sugar are absolutely something you want to avoid because excess sugar is destructive and causes nerve damage. Uncontrolled blood sugar levels can ultimately result in peripheral neuropathy. Picture constant burning, itching, or numbness in your extremities. Neuropathy is not something you want. Ever. However, uncontrolled type II diabetes can eventually lead to retinopathy or even blindess, nephopathy or even complete kidney failure (requiring hemodialysis).

2. Lose weight. Weight loss should be a primary goal for someone with type II diabetes. In the Australian study, gastric banding helped 73 percent of the study participants lose significant weight. But surgical intervention is certainly not the only way to lose weight. A steady routine of regular exercise combined with a certain amount of calorie restriction and sensible eating can progessively whittle away at the number you see on the scales.

Of course, losing weight is harder if you are older (slower metabolism) or have a sedentary job. And this may necessitate going to a gym or fitness center sometime during the day (if you have a 24 hour center in your area, this makes it far easier to get in some "gym time").

On a personal note with regard to "sensible eating", I have found that reducing my intake of carbs goes a long way toward keeping my weight in line, regardless of whether or not I am trying to rev up my metabolism with physical activity.

For most people, a significant change with regard to carbohydrate intake might be avoiding all sugar drinks (you can find plenty of diet drinks that do not taste horrible), avoiding chips and cookies completely, and really paying attention to what's on the plate such as mashed potatoes and servings of bread.

Gout and Sugar Soft Drinks

Here is a tidbit I've just come across (in Parade magazine--don't laugh, I come across a fair number of interesting factoids from this Sunday publication).

Men who drink at least two soft drinks sweetened with sugar per day have an 85 percent risk of developing gout. The British Medical Journal states that the fructose in many of these types of drinks raises blood uric acid levels.

I actually know someone with gout, my father-in-law. Typically, gout affects the toes, especially the big toe. However, my wife's father has severe gouty arthritis in his fingers, so bad, in fact, that he has had to have replacement knuckle joints in two fingers. This has resulted in two of his fingers being fused into a permanent position. Gout runs in his family pretty badly and he now avoids protein rich foods for fear of his own condition worsening.

Tip: if you have gout, or have a family history of gout, avoid excessive levels of protein in your diet along with red meat consumption, yeast, oily fish (to get the health benefits of eating fish, you may wish to try fish oil supplements), and, of course, sugar soft drinks.