Tuesday, 17 June 2014

Protein: how much is too much?



While bacon and eggs are back on the health menu, it doesn’t mean it should be competing for plate space with our greens.
This post appeared on au.lifestyle.yahoo.com.

But how much protein is healthy?

“Protein is an essential macronutrient which is used for building and repair in the body, as well as being the building blocks of our neurotransmitters,” says nutritionist and naturopath Cassie Mendoza-Jones.
“It’s important in body composition and muscle mass, and for our immune system, enzyme production, DNA and healthy tissue integrity.”
Too much protein, however, especially if it’s mostly animal-based, can equate to a high intake of saturated fat and cholesterol. In addition, recent research from the University of California has linked high protein diets to a reduced lifespan and increased cancer risk.
There’s a common misconception that you can only get protein from animal sources, but according to Mendoza, a diet with a healthy intake of protein should be full of varied plant (such as quinoa and nuts) as well as animal foods.
Here is what a day of protein would look like, according to Mendoza:
Breakfast: 1-2 eggs (women) 2 eggs plus nuts or beans or yoghurt (men).
Lunch: 1 chicken breast plus a little bit of a protein-rich grain, such as quinoa (women) 1 chicken breast plus quinoa + feta (men).
Snack: 100g natural yoghurt with 1-2 tbsp nuts.

Dinner : 150-200g grilled fish or 150g chicken or meat (women) or 200-250g grilled fish or 200g chicken or meat (men).
“Eating only protein is not healthy in the long-run, and may be seen as a quick-fix for weight loss, however for sustained energy and a healthy body, we need to be eating a balanced diet,” says Mendoza.
“If you’re consuming a variety of protein at each meal and 1-2 snacks per day, alongside a whole-foods and varied diet replete with lots of veggies, some fruit, nuts, healthy fats, and drinking plenty of water, then that’s perfect.”
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Monday, 16 June 2014

Am I Working Too Hard And If So Why?

Photo appeared on: www.cam.ac.uk

Many people confuse hard-working people with workaholics. What is workaholism?

Workaholism is more than a dedication to your job. It’s a near-obsessive commitment that supersedes most, if not all, other aspects of life. For many, workaholism is a true addiction, inextricably tied to feelings of self worth and identity.

This post appeared on Forbes.

What are some characteristics of workaholics? How could a person tell that he/she is a workaholic?

A workaholic displays symptoms similar to any other addict. He/ she works long hours, at the expense of personal relationships and health. When not working, they’re thinking about work. Work dictates their mood: when work is going well, they’re up; when work is going less well, they’re down. Workaholics often go months without seeing friends; put their marriages on cruise control; defend their choice to work as hard as they do (come up with justification after justification); and may use work as a distraction from other problems or aspects of life.

What are some reasons that workaholics work so hard?

Working, or simply being busy, can be a hard habit to break. Busy people are important people. They’re also often pleasantly distracted people. In an op-ed that went viral in the New York Times a few years ago, a cartoonist named Tim Kreider wrote that “Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness.” When workaholics aren’t busy working—or doing something to promote their work—they feel anxious and guilty. For both men and women, this is often a result of recession—they hang onto jobs for dear life and do everything they can to ensure they’re indispensable. For women in particular, workaholism may stem from the lingering notion that great opportunities for women are still rarer than they are for men, and as such must be strived for with unflagging determination and drive. What’s more, today’s female employees are among the first generation to have been raised by mothers who, as a whole, placed importance not just on a job, but a career. For many of these women, the slide into workaholism seems almost predisposed.

Photo appeared in www.abugfreemind.com


Is there a link between health problems and workaholism? 

There is. Just because work itself is a respectable pursuit doesn’t mean that an addiction to it is any less damaging than other sorts of addictions. A number of studies show that workaholism has been associated with a wide range of health problems, such as insomnia, anxiety, and heart disease.

Besides from health problems, does being a workaholic bring negative effects?

Yes. For some people, working serves as a Band-Aid for other issues, a way to numb undesirable feelings or fill certain voids, much in the way that alcohol might do for an alcoholic or sex for a sex addict. What’s more, working too much can lead to lower job satisfaction, as found in a 2008 study published in The Psychologist Manager Journal that compared overworking employees to those who maintained a better work-life balance. Also, the ill effects are contagious: A study published in the International Journal of Stress Management found that workaholics can even make their co-workers stressed.

What about the effects to the families?

A 2001 study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that working too much negatively impacted an employee’s marriage. This isn’t surprising, since if you’re married to your work it can be difficult to be married to anything, or anyone, else. There have also been studies looking at the impact of workaholic parents on their children and the news isn’t good. In one study, adult children of workaholic fathers experienced more depression and anxiety and a weaker sense of self. That study appeared in the American Journal of Family Therapy.

What about the positive side? 

There are many positive aspects to working hard and to an increasing commitment to career. These days, more and more people, women especially, are embarking on, and staying with, careers that are personally fulfilling, identity making, and lucrative. Hard work can reap great rewards. For many, it’s how they develop feelings of self worth and confidence and purpose. This can be empowering.

Since many workaholics often deny having a problem, what are solutions for them?

Photo appeared in www.huffingtonpost.com

It’s difficult to convince a workaholic to change their behavior if they’re not also willing. If you have a workaholic in your life you might point out the things he or she is missing out on while at work, whether it’s a child’s soccer game, a good book, or a yoga class. Seek to understand why the person feels the need to work so much and support them in finding a resolution. Perhaps they feel pressure to earn money, or they feel insecure about their performance. Work together to find ways to handle the dilemma beyond longer hours at the office.  For people who wonder if they might be workaholics, I might suggest they resolve to check in every so often and ask themselves: Am I working too hard? And if so, why? What am I getting out of 60 hours that I couldn’t get out of 40? Or 35? Many who work hard are working for reasons beyond the benefits good work provides but it requires really stopping and evaluating the situation to recognize that.

Can the symptoms get better?

They can, but it almost always requires a total overhaul in perspective. The first step is acknowledging and accepting—really accepting—that work isn’t the most important thing in your life. Decide what is. You won’t be able to say “no” to work unless you are saying “yes” to something else. The second step is actually starting to say no—to working late, to extra assignments, to doing a little more ‘for the team.’ Finish one task before taking on another. Third, be firm and vigilant about the time you spend working. Decide in advance that you will work, say, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., or no more than 40 hours a week. Often, you will find that limiting the time you have to spend on work will make you more efficient during those working hours. You’ll get just as much done—because you have to—and still have time to have dinner with the family.


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Friday, 13 June 2014

19 Vegetarian Ways To Eat More Protein For Breakfast

VEGETARIAN BREAKFAST PROTEIN



You needn't add beans to your morning bowl of cereal to get a protein-packed breakfast.

And you wouldn't dream of it, of course. But General Mills would. And did.
At the end of May, the mega cereal manufacturer rolled out Cheerios Protein. Theproduct, which comes in Oats & Honey and Cinnamon Almond flavors, apparently gets its macronutrient boost from soy protein and lentils. With an added half-cup of skim milk, General Mills touts 11 grams of protein in each serving of its cereal (without the milk, Cheerios Protein contains just 7 grams of the stuff).
Protein, unfortunately, isn't the only addition to these new, health-washed Cheerios: Each serving from the line contains 16 to 17 grams of sugar. That's an alarming increase when compared to the single gram that sits in each serving of the original Cheerios that come in that iconic yellow box.
But Cheerios' marketing stance is right on trend. High-protein breakfast items have become hot items for good reason: Starting your day off with a hearty helping of the stuff has been shown to wake you up, stave off hunger, help you maintain a healthy waistline, and improve your chances of making better food selections throughout the the day.
No, you don't have to skip down Lentil Road to reap all the wonderful benefits of a morning meal rich in protein. To match General Mills, the following 19 breakfast recipes have at least 11 grams of protein. And if you believe eating meat is the only viable way to get protein in your diet, well, you'll be surprised: Every dish below is entirely meat-free. They entrust eggs, yogurt and -- OK -- some lentils, to achieve their protein punch. Dig in!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/03/vegetarian-breakfast-protein-yum-filling-_n_5418578.html
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Wednesday, 11 June 2014

How to eat yourself fit

There’s more to being a cyclist than hours of training – the right nutrition is key to getting the best from yourself. We investigate how to eat yourself to a better body
How to eat yourself fit
You’ve bought the kit and are putting in the hours. But are you also looking at what you’re putting inside your body? To get fitter, recover faster, become leaner and suffer less injury and illness, what you eat before, during and after a ride is crucial.

Building muscle

Muscle is protein – so you need to eat protein to gain muscle and get stronger. “Animal protein contains all the amino acids we need to synthesise muscle cells for growth and repair,” says physiologist Dr Neil Walsh. “Which is why if you’re protein deficient you may feel weak, struggle to add muscle or be so sore after exercise.”

As a cyclist, you want to carry more muscle than fat. But you also want to be light. So should you be necking protein shakes and raw eggs? “That might work for bodybuilders, but there’s no evidence endurance athletes have an increased requirement for protein,” says Walsh. “So long as you have a diet that meets your energy needs, made up of carbohydrate, protein and some fat, you have all you need.”

A normal, sedentary person needs 1.2g protein per kilo of body weight a day. “But if you’re upping your food intake to match your energy requirements, you’ll get this amount naturally.”

Getting lean

There are no great secrets to losing fat. Walsh says you simply have to make sensible food choices and create an energy deficit by taking in less than you’re expending. He cautions against training hard while seriously restricting your diet though.
“If you want to become a better athlete, you can’t ride empty. Not only do you risk nutrient deficiencies, your ability to train will suffer too. To work out your calorie requirements, wear a heart rate monitor when you train and note average calories burned,” he suggests. “Add this to the recommended daily intake for a sedentary person of your gender.”

The current Department of Health guidelines are 2,550 calories for men and 1,940 for women. Walsh advises eating a healthy, balanced diet that includes lots of fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, lean protein, low-fat dairy, and essential fatty acid such as omega-6 and omega-3 from oily fish and seeds – in other words, foods with high nutrient values and low calorie densities.
Ensure variety – your meat shouldn’t always be steak, your grains not always wheat. Also avoid processed foods, fast food and ready meals, high-fat and high-sugar foods and alcohol.

Racing hard

“Your ability to race fast depends on your energy and endurance,” says Dr Asker Jeukendrup, cyclist and professor of exercise metabolism. He points out that in longer races, the right food can mean finishing or not.

Your body needs fuel, so you need to increase carbohydrate stores leading up to a race. “Two to three days is fine,” says Jeukendrup, “and carb loading doesn’t mean eat as much as possible. It’s only the carbs you increase.” You’ll need 7g carbs per kilo of bodyweight (525g for a 75kg man, for example). And while nutritionists recommend unrefined carbohydrates (brown rice, wholewheat pasta, wholegrain bread) at all other times, pre- race is a time when white is alright.

“You don’t want to challenge your digestion, so avoid fibre – wholegrains or leafy veg – the day before and the morning of a race,” Jeukendrup advises. “Instead, opt for refined carbs with a high glycaemic index (GI), that are absorbed quickly. There’s no one pre-race food. Some people like pasta, then porridge for breakfast. Others don’t sleep if they go to bed full, and are too nervous to eat in the morning. That’s where carb sports drinks come in handy.

“Your morning goal is 100g carbs,” continues Jeukendrup. “Then, if the race is an hour long, aim for 30g during. If it’s two hours, have 60g per hour. Check the label of your sports drink or carb gel. If the race is longer, you’ll need 90g an hour, but get this from a specialised glucose and fructose mix – if you try to consume 90g from a normal glucose product, you’ll get digestive problems, as you can’t absorb more than 60g an hour from glucose alone.”
Some people prefer real food, and can stomach a banana, flapjack, jelly beans or sandwich during a race. “This tactic tends to be harder in the second half of longer races. It’s thought that there’s more blood in the muscles and less in the gut, making digestion difficult,” says Dr Jeukendrup.

Your other energy essential? Hydration. “Limit water loss to two per cent of your bodyweight. Any more and performance suffers. A five per cent loss means a 30 per cent performance drop,” he says. “Drink 1 litre of fluid an hour to replace 1kg in weight,” he says. Water is okay, but try adding diluted fruit juice or an isotonic sports drink.

And for extra edge? “Caffeine is proven to increase speed and endurance, so have a coffee an hour before racing, or choose a carb gel with added caffeine.”

Good recovery

“Post workout, your glycogen stores are depleted, your muscles have micro tears that need rebuilding and chemical build- up that needs removing,” says nutritionist Becky Stevenson. “If you fail to recover you won’t have enough fuel to train as well next time and you’ll suffer muscle soreness. This culminates in heavy legs, disrupted sleep, raised levels of stress hormones and suppressed immunity.”
Recovery means refuelling with carbs, protein, fluid and salts. “Carbs raise your blood sugar level so insulin is released. This opens up your muscles to let nutrients in. Carbs replenish glycogen stores in your muscles and proteins repair them. Just protein won’t maximise your hormone environment; just carbs and you’re not protecting the muscle you’ve gained,” she explains.

“Research demonstrates a higher rate of glycogen storage in the two hours following exercise, so eating during this window will maximise the process,” Stevenson says. “This is fine if you’re not going to be training again for a few days. But any sooner and you should aim to refuel within 20 minutes.”
Your ideal recovery snack is high carb, with a little protein. “Aim for 1-1.2g carbs per kilo of bodyweight. If you weigh 75kg that’s 90g – about three thick slices of bread. The ideal amount of protein is 10-20g . You’d get this from a low-fat milkshake drink or two to three mini cheeses,” says Stevenson.

And don’t forget rehydration. Stevenson is a fan of isotonic drinks: “We know the body retains more fluid if electrolytes are consumed. Wateralone dilutes body salts, sending a message to your kidneys to excrete fluid to restore the balance. An isotonic drink maintains the correct salt balance, so it won’t send this message.”

Fighting illness

“When you exercise, you put your body under oxidative stress. Free radicals exist naturally in the body, but as you exercise and take in more oxygen, you increase free radical production – and the potential damage that does to cells,” says Stevenson.

Long-term, this leads to chronic disease. Short term, it means increased muscle soreness, fatigue and propensity to illness. The solution is to eat more antioxidants, which scavenge free radicals in the body, and you’ll find loads in fruit and vegetables.

And finally, Dr Neil Walsh has carried out extensive research on how athletes can prevent illness. His findings? Eat enough. “Athletes who don’t match calorie intake to their energy needs have lower immune function. Training hard while losing weight is a recipe for illness,” he says.

As well as eating enough, you need to eat your greens – and reds and yellows and purples. The Government guidelines of five-a-day should be a bare minimum. “Cyclists who are training hard need more like 10 a day, weighted towards vegetables in a rainbow of colours for maximum nutrients,” says Stevenson.

This feature is brought to you by Get Into Cycling from Future Publishing, the publishers of www.bikeradar.com
Eating the right food won't just get you fit, it can also better your mood, boost your brain and keep your heart healthy.
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Monday, 9 June 2014

Study Shows Diet Drinkers Lose More Weight? Consider the Source

SODA DRINKER
Diet cola addicts, I mean drinkers, celebrated a recent study published in the journalObesity that showed diet-soda drinkers lost more weight than water drinkers.
The 12-week study divided 303 participants into a water or diet-soda group, both of whom followed the same diet and exercise plan. Victory went to the diet-soda drinkers, who lost on average 13 pounds over 12 weeks, whereas the water drinkers only lost nine pounds over that same period.
"This study clearly demonstrates diet beverages can in fact help people lose weight, directly countering myths in recent years that suggest the opposite effect -- weight gain," said James O. Hill, Ph.D., executive director of the University of Colorado Anschutz Health and Wellness Center, and a co-author of the study. "In fact, those who drank diet beverages lost more weight and reported feeling significantly less hungry than those who drank water alone."
You've got to admire Hill's hubris about "countering myths" (never mind these werelegitimate studies) and how this study "clearly demonstrates" diet soda can help you lose weight. But then, you can easily trace the giant money trail that fuels such language.
The not-so-discreet news is that the American Beverage Association (ABA) -- a deep-pocketed organization that supports giants like soft drinks, sports drinks and juice drinks -- funded this diet-soda study.
Its Board of Directors include Chair Claude B. Nielsen from Coca-Cola and Vice Chair Rodger L. Collins from the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. With that kind of support, did you think the diet-soda drinkers wouldn't come out ahead?
The ABA has a history of defending soda. It argued against former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's soda ban and claimed "Soda Taxes Burden Businesses, Put Good Jobs At Risk."
If you haven't guessed: Corporate money, not your health, drives the ABA.
So does sugar. Last year a large epidemiological study in the journal PLoS One concluded sugar might have a direct, independent link to diabetes. Researchers concluded "sugar should be investigated for its role in diabetes pathogenesis apart from its contributions to obesity."
The ABA wasn't happy about this conclusion; understandably, since so many products it supports are nothing more than high-fructose corn syrup (HFS) or some other form of sugar. "This study does not show -- or even attempt to show -- that consuming sugar causes diabetes," they argued. "In fact, its most robust finding confirms the well-established relationship between obesity and diabetes risk."
They noted other factors -- genetics, say, or dietary fat -- might contribute to obesity and diabetes. I'm going to flip that argument around on the ABA: Other variables might have helped diet-soda drinkers lose more weight. Maybe diet soda wasn't the winning factor.
The ABA has long diligently defended diet soda's halo effect, due to seemingly innocuous artificial sweeteners replacing sugar. "Whether due to a successful marketing effort on the part of the diet beverage industry or not, the weight conscious public often consider artificial sweeteners 'health food,'" notes Qing Yang in his article "Gain weight by 'going diet'? Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings."
The tide's gradually changing: As consumers become savvier to diet soda's problems and sales decline, this seems an awfully convenient time for such a study to appear.
Let's say diet soda did help participants lose more weight. That doesn't account for diet soda's -- or more specifically, the artificial sweeteners in diet soda's -- many problems.
Where do I begin? One study found sucralose (Splenda) "exerted numerous adverse effects" including altered intestinal flora in rats. Another study's title, "Life-span exposure to low doses of aspartame beginning during prenatal life increases cancer effects in rats," speaks for itself.
Human studies show likewise. One in the journal Trends in Epidemiology and Metabolism (TEM) found "accumulating evidence suggests that frequent consumers of these sugar substitutes may also be at increased risk of excessive weight gain, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease."
Another in Diabetes Care concluded sucralose produces a similar effect as glucose, therefore potentially increasing diabetes risk. "Our results indicate that this artificial sweetener is not inert -- it does have an effect," said lead researcher M. Yanina Pepino, Ph.D.
Keep in mind too the Obesity study's size (303 participants) was rather small, whereas numerous other (non-soda supported) studies show the complete opposite effect.
Over 14 years and 66,118 participants -- a little larger than that pro-diet soda study -- a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found diet sodasincrease your diabetes risk more than regular soda.
Another study presented at an American Diabetes Association meeting found diet soda drinkers had a waist circumference 70 percent bigger than regular-soda drinkers. Worse, folks who had two or more diet sodas each day had waist circumference increases 500 percent greater than non-diet soda drinkers.
Diet sodas help folks lose more weight? A large amount of evidence proves otherwise. "There is no free ride," says my friend Dr. Mark Hyman. "Diet drinks are not good substitutes for sugar-sweetened drinks. They increase cravings, weight gain, and Type 2 diabetes. And they are addictive."
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