Before you reach for that diet cola or sugar-free ice cream, you might want to consider a new study published by Purdue University on the effects of artificial sweeteners in yogurt. The research, which was reported this week by Wired.com, suggests that sugar substitutes could actually lead to increased weight gain, contradicting the popularly-held notion that artificial sugar substitutes have a slimming effect.
In the Purdue study rats were fed a diet of yogurt sweetened with either saccharine or regular sugar. The results of the research showed that the rats eating the saccharine-sweetened yogurt ate more and gained more weight than those eating regular sugar-sweetened yogurt.
The sugar substitute business is a billion dollar industry, which is primarily driven by the desire of individuals to eat lighter and lose weight. And although the recent Purdue study tested artificial sweeteners on rats, not humans, researchers at other universities are already taking note of the results, and more research is underway to discover if the weight gain effect from sugar substitutes is transferable to humans.
According to the Purdue researchers, the problem with artificial sweeteners lies in their affect on metabolic regulation within the body. For example, when rats are fed a diet of sugar-sweetened yogurt, their body temperature rises significantly, and process more calorie rich nutrients.
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Posted on 15th April 2008
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I know, I know. The pounds crept back up there didn’t they? Please consider these points about carbohydrates before deciding to diet again. Perhaps changing your STYLE of eating, rather than a weight loss diet is the answer. This will give you a life long answer to losing weight, rather than a short term quick fix.
Read this weight loss information, switch to complex carbohydrates, which are slow burning carbohydrates and build health while you work at weight loss.
Most of the overweight people that I see wanting to diet are having a metabolic problem related to a blood sugar imbalance, which can include hyperinsulinism and insulin resistance. Let’s discuss the role of carbohydrates (starches) and how our body reacts to the consumption of carbohydrates.
What does our body do with carbohydrate foods?
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Posted on 26th March 2008
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by: Renee Kennedy
1. Basic Terms:
- “Bad” cholesterol clogs your arteries and causes heart disease.
- “Good” cholesterol helps collect up the bad cholesterol and get it out of your system.
- Saturated fat is “bad fat” that increases the bad cholesterol in your body.
- Polyunsaturated fat is “good fat” that lowers both good and bad cholesterol.
- Monounsaturated fat is “really good fat” that helps lower the bad cholesterol, but leaves the good cholesterol alone.
- Fatty acids are the building blocks of fat.
- Trans fatty acids are made in the production of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils used to make margarine and many snack foods and processed foods.
- Whole foods are unprocessed food that occur in nature… nuts, meat, milk, poultry, eggs, fish, seeds, grains, rice, fruits, vegetables.
2. Why Fat is Bad:
Fat is calorie-dense, it contains more than twice the number of calories as carbohydrates. A high fat diet has been linked to several chronic diseases such as cancer and increased risk of coronary heart disease. Saturated fats can increase bad cholesterol.
3. Why Fat is Good:
It gives taste and texture to foods. Unsaturated fats can decrease the bad cholesterol in your body.
4. How Fat in Your Diet Affects You:
Fat in your food can affect you differently depending on your particular health issues.
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Posted on 3rd March 2008
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Protica Nutritional Research
The most dreaded word in many dieter’s vocabulary is ‘fat’. It is not uncommon to hear a dieter discuss their avoidance of eating fat as if it were something thoroughly unwholesome, or even life-threatening, like an allergen, or a contagious disease.
In one way, this impassioned hatred of fat is positive. It reflects a generally understood medical truth that overindulging in fat-rich foods often causes unwanted, and unhealthy, weight gain.
However, in another way, this fat-phobia is potentially dangerous, because awareness of fat is not enough; an understanding of how fat influences weight gain and overall health is required. Unfortunately, those who dread and avoid all fat “as a rule†are overlooking an important difference between saturated fat and unsaturated fat.
Saturated fat is often the real culprit when it comes to unwanted, and potentially unhealthy, weight gain. These types of fats, which are solid at room temperature, initiate the production of LDL cholesterol, or “bad cholesterolâ€. In addition to weight gain, as cholesterol increases, so does the risk of heart disease. In fact, saturated fats increase LDL cholesterol disproportionately more than dietary cholesterol itself; that is how powerfully bad it is to the human body[i]. Dreading and avoiding this kind of fat is therefore quite intelligent.
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Posted on 3rd March 2008
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Rudy Silva
Essential fatty acids are more important for health than most people realize. Without eating the proper amount, you will definitely create illness in your body.
These essential fatty acids play an essential role in producing enzymes and hormones your body uses to regulate
Metabolism
blood pressure
heart rate
inflammation
fertility
In addition, fatty acids are used to form the structure of every cell in your body.
When you are deficient in fatty acids you are susceptible to more physical and emotional diseases.
You can extend your life and reduce many age-related diseases by supplementing your diet with the essential fatty acids. Most of these age-related diseases are a result of unchecked inflammation in your body.
Use omega – 6, olive oil, but not too much since it reduces the good effects of omega - 3, flax seed oil or fish oil. Omega – 6 has inflammatory properties and that is why you need to balance it with omega – 3, which has anti-inflammatory properties.
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Posted on 3rd March 2008
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by: Debra Lynn Dadd
Let’s face it. We’re all going to eat chocolate. But you don’t have to feel guilty! Chocolate is actually good for you…it’s all the things added to it that are the problem. Here’s how you can choose delicious healthy chocolates.
Health Benefits
The gift of chocolate to a beloved as a token of love is more than just tradition. Naturally-occurring compounds in chocolate produce that mild euphoria of being in love and contribute to enjoyable interpersonal relations by elevating mood and enhancing sensory perception.
Beyond good feelings, chocolate benefits the body in many ways. In moderation, chocolate can contribute to heart health, help you live longer, suppress a chronic cough, and add needed magnesium to your diet. Chocolate even contains a high level of chromium, which can help control blood sugar.
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Posted on 3rd March 2008
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Nutrovitasub
CHLORELLA
Chlorella is one of the healthiest, most potent foods in existence. The name Chlorella is taken from the Greek word “Chloros” meaning green and the Latin diminutive suffix “ella” meaning small and was named by a Dutch biologist. A German biologist Otto Heinrich Warburg received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1931 for his study of Chlorella. Chlorella is nature’s richest whole food source of chlorophyll, a powerful cleanser and detoxifier for the body. Chlorella is one of the most scientifically researched foods and has many clinically attested health benefits. Although it has yet to gain popularity in the UK, it is claimed that in Japan Chlorella is taken regularly by 30% of the population. There Chlorella is regarded as a functional whole food, rather than a dietary supplement.
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Posted on 22nd February 2008
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Protica Nutritional Research
Anyone who has spent a day fasting from food, or who has even skipped a meal, knows just how much time we save when we are not provisioning and consuming meals. Of course, efficiency is not our only concern when it comes to eating. If we were to articulate our fundamental requirements for food, we would probably come up with the following: (1) it should give us the nutrition our bodies need (2) it should support our body transformation goals (e.g. lose fat or gain muscle) (3) it should taste good (4) it should be convenient. Foods that meet two or three of these requirements quickly become a mainstay in most diets.
A new development in nutrition research called ‘capsulized food’ aims to exceed these requirements. Pennsylvania-based Protica Research is the first of what will likely be many companies dabbling in this new food frontier. Among other development initiatives on their roster, Protica Research engineers liquid foods that are ultra-compact, nutrient-dense, and above all else, very palatable. Their first product, Profect®, delivers 25 grams of protein and the complete spectrum of water-soluble vitamins in less than three fluid ounces. This on-the-go nutrition has some consumers re-thinking their traditional eating habits. An examination of the four fundamental requirements for food will help explain why.
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Posted on 22nd February 2008
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