Sirtuins and Weight Loss

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word "diet"?  Obviously, the majority of people think of losing weight and food restriction.  There are literally hundreds of weight loss methods on the market and if you have had a constant battle with your weight, you've probably heard of most of them, and there's a new one nearly every week.

Sometimes I write about them in my blog as a new diet may have a new twist that might help some people, other times because they sound too good to be true.  However, what most diets come down to is exactly what most of us think they are, calorie restriction and HUNGER.

We know that diets, like the 5:2, or "fasting" activate the so called skinny gene... it works for some people, but the bottom line is that if you are hungry, you will probably be very bad tempered and even suffer from lack of attention which can not only be a problem at work but can even be dangerous.  Personally, I have nothing against the 5:2 which can be very useful for people who find everyday calorie restriction a problem.  But, very restrictive diets have a very high abandon rate, the dieter gets fed up too quickly and gives up.

Which is why I was surprised to read about the "latest fad diet",  The Sirtfood Diet.  Apparently, by eating a diet rich in sirtfoods you can mimic the effects of fasting and exercise and lose weight to the tune of 7lbs in a week.  The Sirtfood Diet is based on an ancient family of genes called sirtuins that controls our ability to burn fat and stay healthy.  Both fasting and exercise activate sirtuin genes, but certain "sirtfoods" also do the same.

So, what are sirtfoods?

The top 20 of sirtfoods are: extra virgen olive oil, red onions, parsley, rocket, bird's eye chili, kale, strawberries, capers, celery, tofu, red chicory, cocoa, green tea, Medjool dates, buckwheat, turmeric, walnuts and coffee, amongst others such as red wine and even chocolate.

According to the science, sirtfoods act as master regulators for our whole metabolism, promoting fat burning and increasing muscle and enhancing cellular fitness.  They also mimic the effects of restricting calories.  The good news is that the highest amounts of sirtfoods are found in the diets of those who have the lowest incidences of disease and obesity.

Curiously, the extra virgen olive oil, leafy greens, berries, red wine, herbs and dates which are all highly rated sirtfoods, also happen to be some of the habitual components of the Mediterranean Diet which is considered one of the healthiest diets in the modern world for weight loss/ maintenance and disease prevention.

So, why is the sirtfood diet better than other fasting or calorie restrictive diets?  Well, most restrictive diets or fasting means that you may lose weight quite quickly but you will also lose muscle mass and will probably quit sooner.  According to the authors of The Sirtfood Diet, Aidan Goggins and Glen Matten, they tested their diet on 39 volunteers who after seven days had lost an average of 7lb, however, 64% had maintained  or even increased their muscle mass.  Muscle is very important as the more muscle you have the more calories you burn, even at rest, it's also easier to burn fat, it also prevents the development of chronic diseases such as diabetes and osteoporosis.

However, at the end of the day 39 volunteers is not a very wide spectrum of analysis and the diet is extremely restrictive.   Phase 1 or 7lb in seven days means that your calorie intake is restricted to 1000 calories per day during the first 3 days, consisting of three sirt-rich green juices, and one full meal also rich in sirtfoods.  For the following 4 days, your calorie intake will increase to 1,500 calories a day including 2 sirt-rich green juices and 2 meals rich in sirtfoods.

Then comes Phase 2, which is a 14-day maintenance diet which is also meant to keep you losing weight.  Each of the 14 days include 3 meals rich in sirtfoods, one green juice to be consumed first thing in the morning and 1-2 optional sirtfood "snacks".

Call me a sceptic, but this sounds difficult and fussy to me.  Fine if you work from home, but preparing juices and a limited ingredient list and restricting calories to 1000 - 1500/ day could make this difficult for some.

However getting to know the healthy foods out there that can help with better health is a great thing, so you can incorporate more of them into your daily diet.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Our obsession with food

Today's "modern society" is obsessed with food, weight and size. Many of us spend our waking hours fussing about what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, have I put on weight, have I lost weight, do I look thinner than the girl over there... And so it goes on.  We are constantly comparing ourselves and depriving ourselves of this or that so as not to put on an ounce.  But at the same time, our lives revolve around food; business lunches, after work drinks - with snacks, dinner with friends, BBQs on the weekend...

So here's a new question to add to your long list:

Is obsessing about my weight/ shape making me fat?

It could well be.

We all know people who seem to stay slim "whatever".  It doesn't seem to matter what they eat, or what they do, they just stay "infuriatingly thin" while the rest of us pummel the treadmill, spin our way through our evenings and stoically refuse to go anywhere near the chocolate isle in the supermarket.

So how do they do it?

Of course there are cases of hyperthyroidism (among other diseases) - a serious illness which has a side effect of making people thin - but believe me you really don't want this as it comes with a whole host of problems and you need medication for life.

Well Cornell Food and Brand Lab seem to have found the answer.  They surveyed 122 adults who had a healthy BMI and who stated that they didn't follow strict diets.  The researchers compared them to another group that consisted of volunteers who were struggling to maintain or lose weight.

What they found was that the people who dieted regularly, thought about food frequently and were extremely conscious of what they ate.

However, the researchers found that the naturally thin group:

• Hardly every dieted
• More than 1 in 10 never weigh themselves
• Almost half of the group exercised at least 5 times a week
• One tenth were vegetarian
• One fifth said they didn't drink alcohol
• More than half ate fruit and vegetables for breakfast with more than a third saying they ate eggs for breakfast
• One fifth said they snack on nuts during the day
• 61% said that chicken was their favorite meat
• 65% ate vegetables everyday for dinner
• Almost 40% did not consume soft drinks, but 33% of those that did said they preferred the diet option

The survey found that 74% rarely dieted and of those, 48% didn't diet at all.  They also found that the majority of naturally thin people were more than 41 years of age and 80% were women.

Dr. Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of Slim by Design, said:

"We wanted to see what health behaviors differed between those struggling to lose or maintain weight and the mindlessly slim.  We wanted to find the small or simple behaviors that might have a big impact."

Dr. Wansink found that the strategies followed by naturally thin people differed from typical weight loss advice.  He found that naturally thin people cooked at home and ate higher quality foods, and that listening to their inner cues was very important to staying thin, they also didn't feel as guilty about over eating as the other group did.

Maybe, just maybe, if we relax and stop obsessing over food, weight and shape, and actually listen to our bodies and nourish them with healthy foods, and take regular exercise, we might just become a naturally healthy weight without even trying.

What have you got to lose?

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

PAMPs in your processed food

First of all, maybe it would be a good idea to identify what are processed foods.  Processed foods are anything that has been treated, chopped, minced and/or had ingredients added to them.  Think minced meat (even if it is just that...), ready- prepared ingredients such as pre-chopped onions, or bagged lettuce.  Processed foods does not JUST apply but does include, sausages, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc..

Unprocessed foods are; steak, whole fish, untouched foods such as onions, leeks, tomatoes, cabbage, etc..

So, what is wrong with minced meat, ready-chopped onion, etc???  Well, a group of molecules called Pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs).

These molecules are undetectable in fresh foods, but are abundant in junk food, processed foods, pasta sauces and sandwiches.  It is believed that these PAMPs grow during the manufacturing process where the foods are chopped and refrigerated.

These PAMPs are believed to increase the risk of conditions such as coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes, causing our immune systems to overreact and therefore damaging our health.

Scientists at the University of Leicester have tested the effects of a low PAMP diet and have compared it to lowering a person's risk of type 2 diabetes by more than 15%.  Dr. Clett Erridge, the lead researcher has said;

"It has been understood for many years that frequent consumption of highly processed
foods, particularly processed meats, is associated with increased risk of developing a range of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity."

Dr. Erridge and his team have discovered the mechanism by which processed foods increase the risk of developing these diseases.  They have discovered that the molecules that contaminate processed foods arise from the overgrowth of a specific type of bacteria during the refrigeration or food manufacturing process.

"These can cause our immune systems to overreact in a manner that might be damaging to health when we eat foods containing these molecules," Dr. Erridge said.

The researchers tested volunteers on a diet low in PAMPs for 1 week, the result was that the diet had vast beneficial effects on the health of the volunteers.  First of all their white blood cell count decreased by 11% - a high white blood cell count can indicate other problems such as infection, stress, inflammation, trauma, allergy, or indicate certain diseases.

Secondly their LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) was reduced by 18%.  The volunteers also lost an average of 0.6kg in weight and 1.5cm from their waist circumference in just 1 week.

The reductions in waist circumference and the decrease in the white cell count are equivalent to lowering their risk of type 2 diabetes by more than 15%.

The researchers believe that by testing the levels of PAMPs in foods during processing could help manufacturers discover during which part of the process the PAMP molecules are arising and therefore be able to eliminate them:

"Crucially, we have found that some processed foods do not contain these molecules, and our results suggest it should be possible to manufacture almost any current food in a manner that results in a low content of harmful PAMP molecules," said Dr. Erridge

Removing the molecules from food could make foods healthier without changing the taste, texture, cost or ingredients.  So, could there be a "healthy" future for junk and processed foods?

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com

Got milk?

This post if for Lili, I hope it helps.

Way back in 2013 I wrote a post on the Milk Dilemma.  Everyone seems to have an opinion about milk lately, with some promoting it and some saying it's unhealthy - cow's milk that is.

Well, I have to admit I'm on the "Cow's milk is unhealthy" team.  Some say we are the only species that still drinks milk after weening and some defend that by saying we are the only species that have milk available to us after weening.  Have you stopped to think that just maybe the other non milk drinking species don't make it available to themselves BECAUSE THEY DON'T NEED IT????

But, I don't want to get into a heated discussion as to whether cow's milk is good for you or not.  You can decide that after reading the Milk Dilemma ;)

What I am here to do today is to tell you about the other options you have and how healthy they are for you.  First off you will have your own opinions as to why you are giving up cow's milk; if you are intolerant to lactose or allergic to the protein in milk (casein), or you just don't want dairy from another animal.  If you have nut allergies then stay clear of the nut milks such as almond milk and all other nut milks including SOY.

But here is the lowdown:

Soy Milk:  This is a nut milk so be careful if you have nut issues.  It is ok for vegans and vegetarians
and is comparable to cow's milk as far as it's protein content goes.  It is also low in fat and some brands are fortified with calcium and vitamins A and D.  It is believed that soy products can help manage cholesterol levels, however, you will need about 25g of soy protein (3-4 glasses of soy milk) per day to achieve this.  However, I have 2 warnings:

• Not everyone can tolerate soy so if, after a couple of weeks of quitting cow's milk and starting with soy, you experience headaches and digestive problems it could well mean you are intolerant to soy.
• Make sure your soy milk is from a reputable organic source.  Lots of commercial brands use GMO soy crops.  Also be sure to avoid soy milk with added sugars.

If you are worried about GMOs, Greenpeace has published a guide to commercial brands that have tested positive for GMO products or have openly admitted to using them.  In English I have found the Canadian version at www.gefreebc.files.wordpress.com  I'll keep digging to see if I can find one for the UK.

Almond Milk:  A simple blend (like all nut milks) of raw almonds soaked in water, usually fortified with calcium and vitamins D and B12 amongst others.  Lower in calories than cow's milk, just 60 calories per cup vs 146 calories per cup of regular cow's milk.  There is no cholesterol in Almond milk or saturated fat, it's low in sodium and high in healthy fats such as omega fatty acids, which help prevent high blood pressure and heart disease.

Almond milk also helps to keep your bones strong, and  offers 30% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of calcium and 25% RDA of Vitamin D.  It also contains 50% of the RDA for Vitamin E so it also keeps your skin glowing.  It contains B vitamins and iron both important for muscle tone and repair.

Almond milk isn't high in sugars so won't impact your blood sugar levels and reducing your risk of diabetes.

I  personally don't like the taste as it is too similar to marzipan - but that's just me!  Almond milk is a definite NO NO if you have nut issues/allergies.

Coconut Milk:  Made from pressed coconut with added calcium.  This is lower in protein with higher levels of saturated fat than most of the other plant-based milks.

You can have this on your cereal or in your tea and it makes a great latte!  It can be used in cooking and you can make coconut yogurts with it too.

The fats in coconuts, although saturated, are mostly in the form or medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs), in particular one called lauric acid, which is converted in the body into a highly beneficial compound called monolaurin.  This is a antiviral and antibacterial that destroys a wide variety of disease causing organisms.

MCFAs are quickly metabolised into energy in the liver and are believed to be less likely to be stored as fat due to this rapid absorption.

Oat Milk:  Less sugar than rice milk, this is the one my 8 year old loves.  Oat milk contains 10 minerals and 15 vitamins.  Just 1 cup of oat milk contains 36% RDA of calcium, it also contains 10% RDA of Vitamin A, which is twice as much as that of cow's milk, and just one serving of oat milk contains 10% RDA of Iron.

The reason why my 8 year old drinks oat milk instead of cow's milk started off because he has dermatitis and by 5 he still had cradle cap, I took him off cow's milk and it was gone in a week ;)

Rice Milk:  The least likely to cause allergies, it has no saturated fat or cholesterol, however it doesn't have much protein either.  Rice milk is a good source of B vitamins which are essential for your metabolism, circulation and nerve function.  High in starch, rice milk is NOT a good option for diabetics, but it does promote cardiovascular health.  The unsaturated fat found in rice milk comes from rice bran oil which can lower blood cholesterol.  Niacin and vitamin B6 contribute to this.  It is also a great source of magnesium which helps control blood pressure.  Rice milk also contains iron and copper which increases red blood cell production leading to better oxygenation and vitality.  Rice milk is low in calcium, but it is also high in manganese and selenium which are powerful antioxidants which help protect the body from infections and cancer.

I love rice milk with coconut and coffee in the morning!

Hemp Milk:  This vegan product made from hemp seeds - but NO, it isn't made from marijuana!  However, the hemp plant AND it's seeds are highly nutritious.  One 8oz glass of hemp milk contains:

• 900mg Omega 3 fatty acid
• 2800mg Omega 6 fatty acid
• All 10 essential amino acids our bodies need for health but can only obtain from food
• 4g protein
• 46% RDA calcium
• 0% cholesterol
• Potassium
• Phosphorous
• Riboflavin
• Vitamins A, D, E, B12, Folic Acid, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc

Including hemp milk in your diet will help strengthen your immune system, give you clear, healthy skin, hair and nails, heart health, increased mental capacity and it is also an anti-inflammatory and improves circulation.

Basically, if you are changing to a plant-based milk, then you need to try them and find the one you LIKE the best.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com