Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Photo by Ursula Spaulding on Unsplash According to a new study published in The Lancet by the Global Burden of Disease, individuals in almost every region of the world could benefit from rebalancing their diets to eat optimal amounts of various foods and nutrients. This …
Photo by Imani Clovis on Unsplash Ouch! You stub your toe on your bedpost for the hundredth time. Almost instantly, the redness, pain, swelling and heat wash over your toe. These four symptoms are the classic and predictable signs of acute inflammation, and they serve …
A new, small study out of the University of Illinois at Chicago examines the effect of time-restricted eating on weight loss in obese individuals.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than one-third of adults in the U.S. have obesity, which greatly increases the risk of metabolic diseases such as coronary heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.
Researchers worked with 23 obese volunteers who had an average age of 45 and average body mass index, or BMI, of 35. Between the hours of 10am and 6pm, the dieters could eat any type and quantity of food they desired, but for the remaining 16 hours they could only drink water or calorie-free beverages. The study followed the participants for 12 weeks.
When compared to a control group (data used from a previous fasting, weight loss trial), the researchers found that those who followed the time-restricted eating diet consumed fewer calories, lost weight and had improvements in blood pressure. On average, participants consumed about 350 fewer calories, lost about 3% of their body weight and saw their systolic blood pressure decrease by about 7mm Hg.
Krista Varady, associate professor of kinesiology and nutrition in the UIC Collage of Applied Health Sciences and corresponding author on the study reported, “The take-home message from this study is that there are options for weight loss that do not include calorie counting or eliminating certain foods.”
Varady says that while the research indicates daily fasting works for weight loss, there have not yet been studies to determine if it works better than other diets. “These preliminary data offer promise for the use of time-restricted feeding as a weight loss technique in obese adults, but longer-term, large-scale randomized controlled trials [are required],” Varady and her colleagues write.
Photo By Charles Deluvio on Unsplash Between the Kardashians and the latest trends, it seems like low-carb and gluten-free diets are all of the rage today. Many celebrities and media outlets tout the benefits of following them and have named bread and pasta the enemy. …
Photo by Jennifer Burk on Unsplash The ketogenic diet, or keto diet for short, is a diet that seems to have taken over the millennial generation. But is it safe or effective? We help you break it down. What is Ketosis? The basis of the …
It’s almost the middle of the year and we did not forget about keeping you motivated to lose weight or to follow the healthy diet you promised yourself at the start of the new year. Goals are difficult to achieve, that’s why they’re called goals and not ‘easy wins’. Here’s the step-by-step plan on how to set yourself up for success when striving to reach your healthy goals.
There’s a SMART way to lose weight and set your goals. Follow SMART to better understand and grasp your goals.
Specific
Measurable
Accountable
Realistic
Timeframe
If you’ve gained weight after graduating, having a baby, or just from letting things get too far, it’s time to put yourself back on track. Saying you “want to lose weight” does not have a clear meaning or direction for you to follow, and will most likely not translate into you losing any weight. A goal needs to be as specific as possible so that there are no questions or doubts that you will have along the way.
Figure out what exactly you want to achieve, how you are going to do it and, of course, why you want to. For example, “I want to lose 25lbs because I feel unmotivated, I have no energy and I am unhappy with my body. In order to do this, I am going to sign up for a spin class three times a week, drink 8 glasses of a water each day, and begin to take a multivitamin daily.”
Talk about a healthy goal!
There are three methods to losing weight – dietary, physical and supplemental. No matter what method you chose, the math is simple, according to Jun Wang, ND, of InVite Health. “In order to lose weight, individuals must create an energy imbalance; eating less and exercising more.”
When taking a dietary approach to weight loss, you’ll want to do three things. The first is to record your food intake from the moment you wake up to the time you go to bed. “This helps assess the calorie count and nutritional value of what you are eating,” says Wang.
Investing in a calorie counter might be a great idea for you in order to give yourself some insight into how many calories you consume daily in order to lose weight. Wang warns that cutting calorie intake drastically will not be a quick fix. “To lose weight, it’s best to cut calorie intake gradually and consistently and be sure to keep up activity levels.”
“Thirty minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity daily (150 min/week) is recommended to reduce chronic disease risk. Sixty minutes of moderate daily activity (300 min/week) is recommended to prevent weight gain in adulthood.”
There are a few supplements that have been clinically tested to provide support for weight loss and weight management.
White kidney beans supply a carb-blocker to break down sugar from foods like bread, potato, pasta and rice.
Probiotics are live bacteria that support your bodies healthy levels of bacteria. They help burn calories and decrease body fat. They also help to reduce inflammation and have been shown to improve the health of the gut.
CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) made from safflower oil has been shown to help reduce body fat by inhibiting the activity of enzymes that would normally transfer from from our blood into fat cells.