Diet and Nutrition

8 Ways Friends Can Support Your Diet

One common concern I hear about dieting is how to maintain both social relationships and weight when so many social gatherings include food.

Sometimes to obtain weight loss goals, you need to separate yourself from certain people, at least when food is involved. The conundrum here is that dieting is tough work and a stresssor that requires physical, mental, and emotional energy. In the midst of such an undertaking, you need support more than ever. Often even our biggest cheerleaders are not confident in how to best support us when we travel roads they have not. While it can be difficult to ask for help, both you and your friend will be glad you did.

1. Accountability – Many people have a hard time doing things for themselves alone, but are more likely to follow through if they know someone else cares – or sometimes simply if someone else will know. Friends can join you in your exercise routine or ask you about how you are doing with your meal plan. You are much less likely to hit snooze if you know your friend will be waiting for you to workout at 6am. If you share your journey electronically, make sure you ask friends to specifically comment on your tweets or posts, so you know someone is paying attention and supporting you.

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Posted on June 13, 2024 by Brooke Randolph

Everything You Need to Know About Probiotics

There’s been a lot of buzz about probiotics lately, and they seem to be showing up everywhere whether it’s in supplements, yogurt, smoothies or even ice cream! So what’s the big benefit and what do you need to know about them? We put together a question-and-answer guide to give you the 411 on probiotics!

What Are Probiotics?

Probiotics are live organisms, such as bacteria and yeast, most of which are similar to the healthy flora that we naturally have in our guts. Probiotics are naturally found in some foods like yogurt and kefir, along with other foods that are fermented such as miso, tempeh and sauerkraut. You can also buy probiotic supplements.

Why Are Probiotics Helpful?

Although there isn’t a lot of concrete research on this, doctors believe that having the right — or wrong — balance of bacteria in your stomach may play a role in digestive issues, obesity, immunity, eczema, and possibly even help with common childhood ailments such as strep throat, ear infections, colds and diarrhea, along with helping with food allergies.

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Posted on June 13, 2024 by Jennipher

SnackWell’s Introduces New Higher Calorie Treats

Remember SnackWell’s snack cakes? Think back to the mid 90s and you might remember the distinct green packaging and popularity of their Devil’s Food Cookie Cakes. Nabisco SnackWell’s came along in 1992 and grew enormously popular as the go-to brand for low-fat snacks. Unfortunately, other brands caught on to the low calorie snack craze and forced SnackWell’s to stop advertising in 2005.

Now SnackWell’s is reintroducing the brand with several new snacks that are higher in calories than the popular 100 calorie portioned snacks that are widely available. The new offerings from SnackWell’s will have a very different packaging and will vary in calories but range from 130 to 150 calories per serving.

Although these snacks offer a low calorie count, all calories are not created equal. This product line is still very highly processed. The new products from SnackWell’s include Cinnamon Raisin Cereal Bars, Peanut Butter Cereal Bars, Chocolate Cereal Bars, White Fudge Drizzled Caramel Popcorn, Fudge Drizzled Caramel Popcorn, Vanilla Crème Brownie Bites, Fudge Crème Brownie Bites and Fudge Drizzled Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. A closer look at the ingredients on these new products reveals that most of them have brown sugar, sugar, maltitol syrup and corn syrup listed in the first five ingredients. They also include things like fructose, which is also a form of sugar, and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil which is trans-fat. The products are still allowed to make the claim of being trans-fat free if they contain less than 0.5 grams per serving, which is the case with the SnackWell’s products. This new product line proves the importance of reading nutrition labels.

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Posted on June 12, 2024 by Descygna

FoodFacts iPhone App Helps with Healthy Choices on the Go

It’s no secret that food packaging can be misleading. While most people know that reading the ingredients list on packaged foods is important, they may not necessarily always take the time to do it. FoodFacts.com is a site that’s designed to help users figure out if a food product is healthy in a snap, and now they have an iPhone app that makes this process even easier to use in the grocery store.

Like the site, the FoodFacts app allows users to look up a health score for nearly every item in the grocery store. The scores are on a scale of 1 to 100, with a higher score indicating a healthier food. In addition to a food’s score, FoodFacts also provides you with the list of ingredients, nutrition facts and potential allergens. From there, you can add the food to a grocery list or save it as a favorite for later reference.

The FoodFacts.com iPhone also allows you to perform a general search using a filter for ingredients you may wish to avoid, like dairy, gluten, sugars or trans-fat. This allows you to find products you can have, without reading through many different nutrition panels. Users have the option of searching individual products by typing in their names or by scanning the bar code. You can also create a personalized profile that helps the app to remember what ingredients you wish to avoid.

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Posted on June 10, 2024 by Margaret

US News Ranks the Best Commercial Diets and the Best Diets for Weight Loss

U.S. News and World Report is famous (and in some cases infamous) for ranking products, institutions and services of all kinds, be it cars, colleges or diets. Yesterday, they released diet rankings in a number of categories, most notably the best commercial diets and the best diets for weight loss. They also created a list for both the best diabetic diets and the best heart-healthy diets, and a list of best overall diets.

U.S. News reports that they spent six month researching diets, and then had a panel of 22 health experts score the diet on seven different criteria. The diet was judged on its nutritional completeness, its safety, its ability to prevent or manage diabetes, its ability to prevent or manage heart disease, short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss and how easy it is to follow.

It’s little surprise to us that Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig topped both lists, as multiple studies have shown these two diets to be effective. Below are the top eight diets from the best commercial diets and the best diets for weight loss.

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Posted on June 9, 2024 by Margaret

Do the Healthiest States Offer the Healthiest Snacks?

by Kelsey Murray

We recently released the list of the healthiest cities in the USA. Sadly, my hometown ended up on the list of the unhealthiest cities. There are many factors that determine whether a city or state is considered to be healthy or unhealthy, including the personal health of the citizens, ability for citizens to walk or bike to work, and number of fast food restaurants per square miles (OKC wins again in this bad competition).

Many members of Congress are proud to display their states’ best assets in their offices in Washington, D.C. Often times this includes flags, artwork by artists from their districts, and even local snacks. The New York Times recently released a list of the snacks that several Congress members keep in their offices. Perhaps there is a link between the food political officials offer and how healthy their state is? Let’s take a look.

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Posted on June 9, 2024 by Health Buzz

Your Perception of Food Affects Your Hunger Levels

Can just the way you perceive the food you are about to eat have an impact on how satisfied you will feel afterward? That’s what researchers at Yale University set out to find when they performed a new study.

The researchers measured levels of the hormone gherkin, which is released in the stomach as a response to hunger. When your blood contains high levels of the so-called “hunger hormone,” it sends your brain the signal that it wants food.

In the study, they took 46 volunteers between 18 and 35 years old. They were told that they were going to test two new milkshakes. One of them would be labeled high fat, 620-calorie “indulgent” milkshake, the other was a no-fat 140-calorie “sensi-shake,” for being a “sensible” choice. Thing is, both shakes had the same calorie content (380). In fact, they were the exact same french vanilla milkshakes, just in different packaging.

Amazingly, the volunteers’ levels of the hunger hormone was different, depending on their perception of what they were drinking. When they were anticipating a decedent treat, their gherkin levels dramatically increased in anticipation, which was followed by a steep decline afterward. This indicates that they were more satisfied by it. (more…)

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Jason

3 Easy Ways to Protect Your Family from E. Coli Contamination

A deadly E.coli outbreak that has afflicted Germany and other parts of Eastern Europe has sickened nearly 2,000 people to date. According to the New York Times, the deadly outbreak has been traced to tainted domestic sprouts and forced the closure of several farms in the Northern part of the country.

While this news might send some people running to empty their produce bins and avoid green vegetables, some public health experts are skeptical of these claims.

“We would want either epidemiological evidence or confirmed laboratory evidence,” Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of food-borne diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, told the New York Times.

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Posted on June 7, 2024 by Maris

Learn How to Challenge Yourself

Maruchy Lachance is president of Running Ninja!, a lifestyle brand for runners by runners. Running Ninja! offers a wide variety of apparel and gifts for runners to keep you happy and inspired while you’re on the run.

We are constantly bombarded with advice on diets and exercises. All day long we are exposed to a steady stream of fitness and diet information, such as the best equipment to use, the most beneficial techniques to implement and the super foods we should be consuming. It should not surprise us why so many of us become overwhelmed and choose against pursuing the path of nutrition and fitness.

I have often said that your first approach should be to simplify your efforts when embracing a healthy lifestyle. This is true for beginners as well as those of us who need to energize our current routine. (more…)

Posted on June 5, 2024 by GuestBlogger

Make Dad a Delicious and Healthy Father’s Day Brunch

If the old adage “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” is true, there is no better way to celebrate Father’s Day this year than to honor Dad with omelets, frittatas and more. Treat your father to his favorite breakfast eats because after all, it’s the most important meal of the day.

Eggs:

Crab Quiche: A quiche is an elegant yet simple main dish for any brunch party. If you have leftovers, freeze slices individually for quick weekday breakfasts.

Denver Scrambled Eggs: Ham, onions and green pepper give these creamy, smooth scrambled eggs plenty of flavor.

Ham and Cheese Pie: Use egg substitute and a prepared baking mix like Bisquick to make a quick and easy hearty breakfast pie that will disappear from the table in minutes.

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Posted on June 4, 2024 by Maris

The 411 on Extreme Calorie-Restricted and Fasting Diets

If there’s one sure-fire way to lose weight, it’s cutting calories, eating healthy foods and working out. But what happens when you don’t just cut calories by a little bit, but instead periodically don’t eat or dramatically cut calories by 500 or more? While most health professionals and nutritionists wouldn’t tell the everyday average person to dip below getting 1,200 calories a day, there is a small group of people who follow low-calorie diets because they believe it keeps them healthy and prolongs their lives.

While severe calorie restriction (CR) has been shown to increase lifespan in animals, there hasn’t been much research on the practice in humans until now. Although much more research is needed on the quality of life while restricting calories, according to recent research from Washington University, people who drastic cut calories have lower core body temperatures than those who eat more. Having a lower core body temperature better allows your body to operate at maximum efficiency, according to a story on U.S. News and World Report. So what does this research mean to you, and should you try calorie restriction? The pros and cons are below!

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Posted on June 3, 2024 by Jennipher

Diet and Nutrition

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