How cuddly is your man?

We all know the two main body shapes; apple (rounded in the middle) and pear (more shapely round the hips).  Men seem to be more prone to the apple shape or beer belly, which can often leave them looking "pregnant".  However, with the "Dad Bod" seemingly in fashion, just how healthy is your man?

Pear shaped, as in extra weight around the thighs (more habitual in women) is subcutaneous fat, situated just beneath the skin, this fat is harmless as it stays exactly where it is and is very hard, but not impossible, to lose through dieting.

The apple shape however, is visceral fat which accumulates around the internal organs behind the abdominal wall.  This is why these round beer bellies tend to be hard and you can't pinch them.  This type of fat is a lot easier to  lose but is far more dangerous to health - in fact, it can kill you and here's how:

1.  Heart.
Visceral fat is linked to high levels of bad colesterol and high blood pressure, both of which are contributors to heart disease.

2.  Immune System.
Visceral fat produces a chemical called interleukin-6 which is active in inflammation.  Inflammation does serious damage to the body, it worsens the symptoms of diseases such as COPD (Chronic

Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) among others and could also raise your risk of developing these diseases.

3.  Diabetes.
Belly fat has been linked to insulin resistance syndrome, this is where the body becomes less sensitive to insulin and this type of fat produces more of it.  This means that people with visceral fat are more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes.

4.  Dementia.
A Japanese study found that an adverse waist-to-hip ratio where the waist was a lot larger than the hips, was linked to a higher risk of developing dementia due to a highly negative effect on the hippocampus - the memory center in the brain.

5.  Cancer.
Research has recently revealed that men who put on  2st 7lb (17 kg) from adolescence to retirement, and were subsequently classed as overweight, had a 50% higher risk of developing bowel, kidney, oesophagal and pancreatic cancer.

6.  Depression.
A 2014 study of more than 3,300 men and women with an average age of 51, found that higher levels of visceral was linked to higher risk of depression.  This is believed to happen due to an increase in the production of the stress hormone cortisol.

7.  Lungs.
A study from California has also shown a link between high levels of visceral fat and asthma.  Apple shaped overweight people were more likely to develop asthma, this is due to the inflammatory effects of abdominal fat on the the respiratory system.

8.  Snoring.
Weight has often been associated with snoring.  This is due to the abdominal fat restricting the movement  of the diaphragm and lung expansion.

So if your partner is on the cuddly side, you might like to reassess it from a health point of view.

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

The effects of junk food and sugar on adolescents' brains

When children reach adolescence, their brains take on major developmental changes in termos of structure and function.  Due to the dramatic changes in connectivity within brain regions, adolescence is a period of increased neuroplasticity.

Also brain-imaging studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex doesn't fully mature until the early 20s.  A major role of the prefrontal cortex is performing executive functions.  Executive functions refer to behavioral control, attention and decision-making.

Poor regulation of the prefrontal cortex during this period can explain why teenagers show increased risk-taking behaviors, including drug taking, binge drinking and  dangerous driving.

To parents, it often seems that however much they try to help their teenage children and provide information about unsafe behavior -their teenagers just don't listen.

For many teenagers, risky behavior often provides an immediate reward.  The brain's reward system releases dopamine when stimulated by pleasurable events, which makes carrying out these activities more appealing.

This also makes high fat and high sugar foods more appealing.  However, the adolescent reward system is especially sensitive to stimulation and over activation during this growth period may lead to permanent alterations.

If you combine a teenager's reduced ability to avoid rewarding behavior with their over stimulated reward system, then it doesn't come as a surprise that teens prefer food that is easily obtained and provides instant gratification - even though they may know that these are not healthy options.

The over consumption of sugary foods during adolescence can cause changes in the brain that do not manifest until later in life such as reduced motivation and enjoyment when experiencing rewards.

These behaviors are key features of mood disorders including depression.

This is very important to know, as it shows just how important the type of food consumed during adolescence is, and how it can impact brain function when teens become adults.  It also leads to long lasting changes in food preferences and learning about rewards.

Eating too much junk food during adolescence could halt the normal brain maturation processes.  This could alter normal developmental trajectories which, in turn, lead to enduring behavioral  predispositions - in this case, dieta associated: the habit of consuming fatty and sugary foods, leading to weight problems, obesity and weight related health complications.

Junk food and sugary food and drinks are not just full of unhealthy fats and large amounts of sugar, they also contain different excitotoxins such as monosodium glutamate (MSG).

MSG is used as a flavor enhancer in many foods especially Chinese food and junk food, but also many unsuspecting foods too.  There are many opinions as to whether MSG is safe for human consumption or not and there is still no clear cut scientific evidence for either side.  But excitotoxins are dangerous if over consumed and a brain in development such as a baby, toddler or adolescent would be more susceptible to excitoxin damage.  For this reason MSG was removed from commercially produced baby foods.

MSG is also known as; hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts and protein isolate, among others.

So, once again, the answer to problems such as these is to feed your family fresh produce cooked from scratch at home - and read the labels carefully when you do your shopping!

If you would like to learn more about the effects of excitotoxins then I suggest the book Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by Dr. Russel L. Blaylock.

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

Eating Healthily Doesn't have to be boring

We are what we eat... or so the saying goes, and I agree whole heartedly with this.  Unhealthy diets cause disease, be it type 2 diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome or even cancer.  Unhealthy foods cause disease; junk food, sugary soft drinks, processed "foods" all contribute to the weight gain, obesity and the onset of the aforementioned diseases.

However, quite often the people who come to see me because they need to lose weight not just from an esthetic point of view, but for health reasons all have the same look in their eyes... fear.

We humans are creatures of habit, we tend to be set in our ways and the mere thought - however fleeting -  of having to change one or more of their habits, or having to stop eating one of their favorite foods causes such fear they would prefer to not even contemplate it.

Also, the minute the word diet comes up in conversation and most people envisage broiled chicken with lettuce or grilled fish with not much else.  "Dieting" is associated with depriving oneself of everything deemed delicious and eating uninteresting, boring and unpalatable foods.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Two very important pieces of information have come to light recently.

1.  FAT has been found to be good for you.
2.  The real killer is SUGAR.

Yip, everything you were told for decades was wrong.  Sugar and refined carbohydrates are the real killers and fat has been unjustly omitted from our diets for years and years.

So, if we take into account that there is a huge obesity epidemic which is stressing the national health services due to the serious diseases that are brought on by being overweight or obese; type 2 diabetes as I wrote recently is singlehandedly bankrupting the NHS in the UK.  We also need to take into account that type 2 diabetes can be improved beyond belief in the majority of cases and even cured in some cases, simply by removing refined carbohydrates from the diet.  Removing refined carbs mean people lose weight.  Losing weight reverses the effects of type 2 diabetes, among other diseases.

And here we are back to the broiled chicken and lettuce... or are we.

Eating healthy, home cooked food can be so delicious.  There is no reason to have a boring diet if you want to lose weight.  What you really need is to change the way you THINK about food.

Food should be tasty, delicious and filling.  You shouldn't feel like you are missing out.  You also need to adjust your mind set.  When you look at what you are about to eat ask yourself these questions;  What does this food do for me?  Does it nourish me?  Will I feel good about it afterwards?

One of the best examples of healthy but tasty food is Dr. Michael Mosley's Blood Sugar Diet.  Anyone, whether you have a problem with blood sugar or not should be eating this food.  It is healthy and delicious and a great way to start a seriously healthy change to your diet.  I don't usually do reviews, but Dr. Mosley's 5:2 Diet I have reviewed and it is another common sense diet that has done wonders for many many people.

However, the Blood Sugar Diet I am not going to review as such, and if you don't want to read the book I suggest that you do buy the recipe book, written by his wife Dr. Clare Bailey and Dr. Sarah Schenker.  Buy it!  Cook from it!  Give to everyone you know as a gift this Christmas!

The recipes are easy and very tasty, you have breakfast ideas, lunches, snacks, evening meals, main meals even curries!  My own 16 year old daughter who has always says she hates spicy food, LOVED the chicken biriani with cauli rice.

You will not even know you are on a healthy eating plan... which is why I was so distraught this morning to find that my dog had eaten the book... oh well, I'll have to get myself another one!

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

Is your mind playing tricks on you?

There is one HUGE problem when it comes to dieting and that huge problem is the fact that your body has a mind of its own.  Yes, that limp of grey matter which seemingly has nothing to do with your digestive system actually has a lot to say in the matter of dieting.

In fact our brain and our digestive system are extremely connected - so much so that our digestive system is the only other organ in the body that produces neurotransmitters, and your brain rules... well... everything.  Unfortunately it could be your brain that is sabotaging your heroic efforts to lose weight.

The main thing to remember is that when you start restricting your food intake, your brain literally thinks you're starving.  The physiological side of our bodies hasn't changed in 10,000 years and back then our bodies were built for famine.  Our hunter-gatherer ancestors had little say in how much or how often they would eat.  They ate what they could gather; fruits and vegetables and what they could catch and kill.  This meant that quite often they would go for some time with only what they could gather.  When they were fortunate enough to kill an animal, they would eat all of it as quickly as possible as there was no way of storing meat.  Their brains made their bodies store all the calories they could as they didn't know WHEN they were going to get the next decent meal.

Jump forward 10,000 years and if you are lucky enough to live in the western world, famine is not a problem and food is available 24/7.  However, our bodies and brains still believe they live in a time of famine and store all that they can.  This is why many diets may seem to work at first.  You reduce your calorie and/or quantity intake, you start to lose weight and suddenly a few weeks later you plateau and the weight loss slows dramatically.  This is when your brain has decided you are starving.
This starvation effect is also due to an incredible obsession with food that we generate when dieting.  A study at Rockefeller University permitted scientists to observe this in detail when studying a group of obese patients who were put on a diet while in hospital.

The patients developed some of the psychological and physiological consequences of starvation due to an intense obsession with food.  This is why you daydream about food when you are dieting.  Once the patients were allowed to go home and there was more food available to them as they were no longer in a controlled environment, they would break their diets or even binge eat resulting in them putting the lost weight back on.

This is also what happens when you are told you cannot eat a certain food.  I remember when I had my intolerance test, I was told I couldn't eat wheat.  At the time I hardly ever ate bread and my wheat intake was down to pasta only.  But the minute I was told I couldn't eat wheat, I suddenly had intense cravings for bread - something I didn't usually eat.

It is the mere fact that something - anything is prohibited that makes it all the more enticing.

The brain actually plays a leading role in dieting.  It constantly competes to control our behavior.  Those voices in your head:

"Oh go on... just one won't hurt..."

"You've been so good all week..."

"Well, now you've broken the diet and had one biscuit... you may as well eat the whole packet!"

But it isn't just the voices in your head encouraging you to eat something, the brain is also hormone driven.  Leptin, which is also called the fat hormone, is produced by fat cells and travels, via the blood, to the brain where it tells the hypothalamus how much energy is stored and available on demand.  When you have enough energy stored ready and waiting, the leptin in the brain makes food less attractive.  However, dieting and weight loss can reduces those stored energy levels and leptin levels, therefore making food a lot more attractive.  That's why it is never a good idea to go food shopping when you are hungry.

Another problem with dieting is stress.  If you are going through a stressful time, many wouldn't recommend you add to that stress by starting a new diet.  However, if your stress is due to you being overweight, then doing something about it might help.  However,  just the fact that YOU know YOU are on a diet makes it stressful.

Resisting temptation, sticking to your diet plan, keeping a food diary or having to count every calorie is extremely stressful.  And here the food obsession comes back again.  Calorie restriction actually produces stress hormones in dieters and this can lead to weight gain instead of weight loss.

There seem to be two types of eaters; intuitive eaters or controlled eaters.  Intuitive eaters are those who listen to their bodies and eat only when they are hungry and stop eating when they are full.

Controlled eaters watch what they eat and analyze what they are about to eat to see if it is ok or what consequences that particular food would have to their weight.

A study carried out by psychologists found that intuitive eaters were less likely to have a weight problem and maintained a stable weight and also spent less time thinking about food.

Controlled eaters tended to diet for longer periods of time and were more likely to binge eat for emotional reasons or eat just "because it was there".

Let's not forget willpower - or the lack of it either.  Motivation or willpower is basically what helps us stay on a diet, but that seems to be limited too.  Our bodies have their own "defended weight range" and if we eat less than our body believes is necessary for survival then it will do everything in its power to get you to eat more, this is where our reward system kicks in and we are back to hearing those voices again...

"You've been so good for days, one treat won't hurt!"

So, can you beat your brain?  Yes!  You have to retrain your brain to agree with what you are doing.  It has to understand why you need to lose weight; health reasons, etc... and you have to make the lifestyle change, not just a short spurt but a major diet overhaul as the basis of your existence.

 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