Diet and Nutrition

Know the Dangers of Extreme Weight Loss

Everybody wants to lose weight fast. Yet, all the diets that claim you can lose 10 pounds in 10 days or drop an entire dress size in hours rarely live up to their claims, and if they do, it’s probably not worth the risks.

Although fast weight loss is improbable, it’s still the goal of many. And thanks to shows like Biggest Loser and Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss edition, losing weight rapidly not only seems achievable but almost expected.

This excitement, however, comes at a price. With contestants now speaking up about some of the incentives and processes used to keep ratings and weight loss high, it only drives home the true realities of overly fast weight loss.

In a recent interview with James Garrison, the self-proclaimed whistle-blower and former contestant of Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss edition, Garrison claims that what you see on air isn’t always the reality. From diet pills to forced dehydration, Garrison paints a unpretty picture of extreme weight loss that most Americans don’t see on screen. However, it happens, and while it attributes to huge amounts of weight loss each week, it may be doing more harm than good.  (more…)

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Kati

4 Steps to Beating the Holiday Hangover

By Rachel Berman RD, Director of Nutrition at CalorieCount.com

You may have spent the past couple of months gorging on holiday treats, avoiding the gym, and making promises that you’ll get back on track come January. Have you starting living your healthy lifestyle yet or are you still overcoming a holiday hangover? Either way, here are tips to help you recover from your holiday indulgences and make healthy changes all year long.

1) Avoid fads

At the beginning of each New Year, we are bombarded with the marketing of diet and exercise products and services. Don’t be fooled by lofty promises of ‘easy & fast weight loss.’ Restrictive fad diets, and extreme exercise might result in weight loss but it will not get you very far. Research shows that extreme programs are unrealistic to maintain for the long term and once you go off of it, you are likely to gain back all the weight you lost, plus more. When we make small, manageable changes to our everyday routines, we are more likely to have long term health success. What healthy changes are realistic for you? If you can incorporate one of these changes at a time, and be patient with reaching your goals, come March, you will still be on the path to a healthy lifestyle. Having support from your loved ones or a community can help make those changes stick!

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Posted on January 8, 2024 by Calorie_Count

Simple Recipe Guide for New DASH Diet Followers

This week, US News & World Report made its Best Diets 2024 announcement, naming the DASH  (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) Diet the best overall diet. There are a lot of choices for people who want to lose weight using a structured weight reduction plan, and while there is no “one-size fits all” approach, Diets In Review’s resident pharmacist Dr. Sarah Khan considers the DASH Diet an ideal weight loss plan for diabetics.

People who follow the DASH diet will work on lowering sodium intake to less than 2400 mg per day, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fish, chicken, whole grains and healthy fats like nuts and olive oil. With endorsements from the American Heart Association, The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the Mayo Clinic, the DASH diet is a great option for anyone who wants to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight or consume less sodium.

“We often recommend the DASH diet for diabetics,” said Dr. Khan. “Diabetics should also focus on a low-sodium diet with less than 2,000 mg of salt per day. High blood pressure tends to go hand in hand with diabetics and we are more aggressive with their blood pressure control because of all the complications it could cause if we let it become too high.”

When you’re beginning the DASH diet, be sure to stock your kitchen with plenty of fresh, unprocessed foods, especially fruits and vegetables. If you’re kicking off your diet in January, look for seasonal fruit like oranges, apples, pears, and pomegranates. Instead of sticking to salads, look for unusual or unique produce like kale, Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi to liven up your vegetable rotation. Stock the pantry with plenty of whole grains and avoid white or refined flour and sugar.

To help you kick off your DASH Diet we’ve pulled together some of our favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes, including a few snacks, to help you start on the right track. (more…)

Posted on January 7, 2024 by Maris

Nutrisystem Chef Michael Solomonov “Highly Motivated” by Creativity, Expertise and Technology

This year, with Janet Jackson singing its praises, Nutrisystem is making changes to its decades-old program to ensure its customers find success without food that is bland, boring, or repetitious. One way is through the new Chef’s Table entrees included in the Nutrisystem Success program, which launched just before the new year. Nutrisystem invited several renowned chefs to be part of their Chef’s Council, and together the group of culinary professionals created the first seven entrees for the new Chef’s Table line.

The Chef’s Council is made up of Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia in Chicago, Kent Rathbun of Texas restaurants Abacus and Jasper’s, Mark Estee of CAMPO in Reno, Carmen Gonzalez of Top Chef Masters 2, and Michael Solomonov of Zahav in Philadelphia.

We spoke yesterday with Solomonov, who was enthusiastic about his new role with Nutrisystem, something he hasn’t ever done before. He calls the opportunity “super flattering,” especially in light of the peers he’s working with.

“With the guidance of the educated people at Nutrisystem, we’re highly motivated to make the best possible food for people to diet, lose weight, and keep it off,” he told us in our interview, noting that “change is refreshing.” (more…)

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Natalie K

Biggest Loser’s Brett Hoebel Joins Food Network’s Fat Chef

If you’ve ever wondered how chefs manage to work around food all day and maintain a healthy weight, you’ll want to tune into the new Food Network series The Fat Chef, which premieres on Thursday, January 26 at 10pm ET/PT.  Though the media portrays images of slim chefs like Giada De Laurentiis and Sandra Lee, there are many who do not fit this stereotype but play a huge role in determining how and what people eat.

The six episode series will offer viewers a behind-the-scenes look the struggles chefs face when their love for food affects their health. Twelve overweight culinary professionals from Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio will be featured over the course of their four-month venture to overcome weight issues with the help of therapists, nutritionists, and personal trainers.

Each episode will showcase two chefs working with their health consultants, including nutritionist and author Christine Avant, fitness guru Robert Brace, and former Biggest Loser trainer Brett Hoebel as they work to overcome their abusive relationships with food.

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Posted on January 6, 2024 by Maris

High-Fat Diets Cause Brain Inflammation

by Kelsey Murray

Have you ever wondered why people who are already obese continue to gain weight? Is it laziness, a lack of desire to lose weight, or something else? Two new studies that have been published by the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows that it might be something else: their hypothalamus works differently.

The hypothalamus part of the brain controls how often we feel hungry or thirsty, in addition to controlling our need for sleep and our body temperatures. This means that when the hypothalamus is not working properly, someone might still feel hungry even if he or she has already eaten a lot of food.

In one of the studies, it was found that neurons that surround the hypothalamus of obese humans and obese rats are often damaged by inflammation. This inflammation could be caused by high-fat diets, which are notorious for causing inflammation throughout the body. Although it takes weeks or months for inflammation from high-fat diets to occur in other parts, it only takes a few hours for the same thing to happen in the brain.

The other study found that mice that ate a high-fat diet were slower to replace the old, non-functioning neurons. This could also hamper the hypothalamus’ ability to regulate hunger and other bodily functions.

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Posted on January 6, 2024 by Health Buzz

Biggest Loser’s 6 Weeks to a Healthier You Shines as a Best Diet of 2024

In yesterday’s announcement from US News and World Report’s Best Diets 2024, Biggest Loser took two top spots. Yes, the diet often bashed by critics for what they “see” on TV and not necessarily what they’ve researched received high honors.

First, the list tied Biggest Loser with DASH Diet, also named 2024’s best diet, as the Best Diabetes Diet. Then, it was ranked number two, behind Weight Watchers, as one of the Best Weight-Loss Diets.

The review, completed by a volunteer team of 22 renowned experts, ranked Biggest Loser based almost entirely on the plan outlined in the book Biggest Loser’s 6 Weeks to a Healthier You. Cheryl Forberg, RD was the original co-author, along with Dr. Michael Dansinger, and the author of this book.

“I am thrilled that this review was based mostly on my 6 Weeks to a Healthier You book, which has the most comprehensive and solid science on the plan as well as the ingredients selections,” she told us after hearing the news.

Forberg was the primary dietitian on the show, working with each contestant behind the scenes since season one. Late last year, at the end of season 12, she announced she was leaving Biggest Loser to pursue other work, including growing her Flavor First brand.

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Posted on January 5, 2024 by Natalie K

Will the Real Fat Trap Please Stand Up? A Response to Tara Parker Pope

Abra Pappa for Nutritious America

I read an article in the New York Times a few days ago called “The Fat Trap” and I can’t seem to shake it. The article, written by Tara Parker Pope, highlights the newest research in what she called the ‘fat trap’, losing weight but not being able to keep it off.

I found the article to be a somewhat fatalistic snapshot of the journey from weight loss to maintaining a new weight. Some of the points made were valid, like the call to focus on prevention; helping people before weight gain becomes an issue, but most of the research sited in the article seemed fatally flawed to me.

“The Fat Trap” opened with a research study of 50 obese men and women. In the study they had the participants lose weight by going on an extremely low calorie diet of a mere 500-550 calories per day.

The research showed that despite best effort, the 34 participants that ultimately remained in the study regained an average of 11 of the pounds lost and also reported feeling far more hungry and preoccupied with food than they had been before.

What is most perplexing to me is why we continue to conduct research on obesity using the same methods that we know have failed time and time again. Of course, a dramatically reduced calorie diet will result in cravings. When one’s body is depleted of the very sustenance it needs to be satiated there will be cravings to follow. (more…)

Posted on January 5, 2024 by Nutritious_America

Fit in 5: Five Easy 5 Minute Breakfasts

Pamela Hernandez owns Thrive Personal Fitness in Springfield, MO where she focuses on weight training for weight loss. She writes a blog for her web site, www.thrivepersonalfitness.com, sharing vegetarian recipes from her kitchen, exercise strategies, lifestyle tips and stories from her own journey. You can also follow Pamela on Twitter @ThriveFit or pick up more tips on Facebook, www.facebook.com/thrivepersonalfitness.

Breakfast seems to be is the most challenging meal of the day. We want to sleep as long as possible and shoot out the door to arrive at work or school right on the dot. There is often a corralling of kids, pets and spouses that has to happen to get out the door as well. With all of the chaos the most important meal of the day seems to escapes us. Coffee becomes the de facto substitute for solid food and by lunch time the grumbling in the tummy makes anything and everything look good. This leads to overindulgence at lunch and, perhaps, the rest of the day.

When it comes to fat loss, breakfast really can be the most important meal of the day. Data from the National Weight Control Registry shows that eating breakfast every day is the habit of 78% of their successful “losers”. The reason for this is twofold: After fasting for the previous 10-12 hours you need fuel to get your metabolism moving again. It keeps you from going into starvation mode and overeating later in the day.

Yet the obstacles to cooking a nutritious breakfast each morning probably aren’t going anywhere.

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Posted on January 5, 2024 by GuestBlogger

DASH Diet Tops the US News Best Diets of 2024 List

carrots, mushroom, broccoli and tomatoStarting last year, U.S. News and World Report added diets to its suite of rankings, along with colleges and cars. This year, the panel has named the DASH diet the best overall diet of 2024. DASH stands for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension, but that doesn’t mean it’s just for people who suffer from high blood pressure. “I think the DASH diet is really more than a diet,” says Dr. Sarah Khan. “It’s a complete lifestyle change that focuses on lean meats and proteins, low fat, low sodium, fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. It’s just an all-encompassing bag of good choices.”

The DASH diet aims to lower blood pressure by increasing your intake of certain nutrients while decreasing your sodium. “Because it increases the potassium and calcium in your diet, that in and of itself lowers blood pressure,” says registered dietitian Mary Hartley. “Those minerals have a role in maintaining the correct water and electrolyte balance.” She adds that many fruits and vegetables are loaded with potassium, which is why they are emphasized in the DASH Diet.

Being overweight will increase your risk of high blood pressure, but the DASH diet will only lead to weight loss if you have the proper caloric intake. “It is a diet for good health,” says Hartley. “Now, if you want to lose weight, you’re going to follow the DASH Diet but eat less of it, because you have to make a calorie deficit.” Mary recommends eating the number of calories that are necessary to maintain your ideal weight rather than drastically reducing your calories for a short period of time. “They’ll lose if they eat the calories needed for their ideal weight, they’ll just lose more slowly.”

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Posted on January 4, 2024 by Margaret

DASH Diet, Biggest Loser, and Weight Watchers Receive Top Ranks in US News Best Diets 2024

US News and World Report made its Best Diets 2024 announcement today. The list by the high profile news magazine started last year, with Weight Watchers taking the top spot.

Released today, DASH Diet gets the highest marks on the list, being named the best overall diet. We wouldn’t disagree. In fact, our resident pharmacist and diabetes specialist, Dr. Sarah G. Khan, wrote in November that the DASH Diet is an ideal weight loss plan for diabetics. “The DASH diet consists of lowering sodium intake to less than 2400 mg per day, eating fresh fruits and vegetables and carbohydrate sources coming from whole grains,” wrote Dr. Khan. “It also includes proteins coming from lean meats, fish and chicken, and moderate amounts of fats such as olive oil and nuts.” Dr. Khan also notes endorsements for the diet from the American Heart Association, The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and the Mayo Clinic.

DASH wasn’t the only program getting high praise and attention today.

The US News and World Report Best Diets 2024 also breaks the diets down in to multiple categories, naming the best diets for weight loss, heart health, diabetes, and even the easiest to follow.

The Best Diets 2024 list is as follows. (more…)

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Natalie K