Changing the concept

I will be changing the concept of NUTRITODAY from a boring fact-filled blog to an exciting experience-filled one! It will contain my experience as a nutritionist, issues on nutrition, my PhD studies and the challenges faced by nutritionist like me.

Please allow me few days to sort things out and do come back later!

Are You Nutrtionally Awake!!!

Take this quiz and you know how nutritionally aware you are??
It is a very simple quiz only...


http://www.livescience.com/health/top_10_about_you-1.html

6-month weight loss plan

It's time to make new year's resolutions, and at the top of most people's list will be to lose weight and start an exercise program.

For the new year, try setting monthly goals to improve your health. Make a resolution to check in at the beginning of each month to assess progress. Here's a plan for the first six months to make you feel great in 2008.

January: Begin the new year by assessing your weight and understanding what your weight means for your health. Calculate your body mass index using your height and weight. See the Web site www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi.

BMI tells you if your weight puts you at risk for future health problems, so aim for a BMI of less than 25. If your BMI is more than 30 and losing a lot of weight seems like a daunting task, don't worry. Aim to lose 10 to 12 pounds over the course of a year. Even a small weight loss can improve blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipids.

In addition to height and weight, measure your waist circumference with a cloth tape measure. If it's over 40 inches for men and 35 inches in women, set a goal to reduce your apple shape. Your last assessment is to keep a three-day food record and analyze it at www.mypyramidtracker.gov. Set up a profile and use the tracking tool every month to assess your goals.

February. Keep a food diary the first three days of every month and use MyPyramid tracker to assess your intake. This month we turn to affairs of the heart, so focus on saturated fat and cholesterol when you analyze your diet. Easy changes include switching from whole milk to skim milk to save 4 grams of saturated fat and using ground sirloin in place of ground round to save 4.5 grams of saturated fat. For more tips to reduce saturated fat and cholesterol, check out www.americanheart.org.

March. This is National Nutrition Month, so go to www.eatright.org and use the Find a Nutrition Professional tool to locate a registered dietitian in your area to help you fine-tune your goals. Continue with a three-day record and compare it with the food record you kept in January. As the warmer weather approaches, set your exercise goals. Walking is the easiest exercise, so dust off the walking shoes and hit the pavement. Use a pedometer to measure your steps and aim for 10,000 steps each day. If walking outdoors isn't an option, buy a DVD. I like Leslie Sansone's "Walk Away the Pounds." It sounds dorky to walk in place, but trust me, her four-mile super challenge is a great workout in the comfort of your living room.

April. In addition to analyzing your diet, use the MyPyramid activity tracker to monitor your exercise goals. If you've lost weight and have reached a plateau, don't let that deter you. Your smaller body needs fewer calories, so you may have to tweak your diet to burn a few more calories each day. Save 100 calories by dipping chips in salsa instead of cheese dip; switch to light butter; use soft tacos instead of fried crispy tacos; don't ask for extra butter on popcorn at the movies; use chicken broth in mashed potatoes instead of whole milk and butter.

May. Focus on nutrients for bone health, especially calcium and vitamin D. Review your diet analysis for these two important nutrients and visit the Web site of the National Osteoporosis Foundation at www.nof.org to learn more about bone health. Exercise also strengthens bones, so keep up your activity.

June. Check in with your food and activity intake at MyPyramid tracker and use the information to reassess your goals for the next six months. Did you lose weight and improve your body mass index? Did you reduce your waist circumference? Did you stick to your exercise goals? If you've slipped, don't give up. Rededicate yourself for the last half the year to meet the goals you established in January.

Source: http://www.ajc.com/health/content/health/stories/2007/12/21/fit_1227fd.html

Why You're Not Losing Weight

1. You're Following Bad Advice

Sometimes the government goofs. In late 1970s, the United States began advocating a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. In the early 1970s, the average daily energy intake was 2,450 calories. By the year 2000, that number had risen to 2,618. Almost all of those extra calories came from carbohydrates, according to the Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES).

Do this: Eat fewer carbs. People are overeating carbohydrates, not protein and fat. So if you want to lose fat, start by cutting back on carbs. Ask nutritionists what the main purpose of carbohydrates is and they'll say, "Energy." Trouble is, most people are consuming more energy than they can burn.



2. You Eat Fat-Free Foods

Warning: Low-fat foods may make you fat. Cornell University researchers reported that when overweight men and women were told they were eating low-fat M&Ms, they consumed 47 percent more calories than those who were given regular M&Ms (the M&Ms were actually all the same). On average, low-fat foods contain 59 percent less fat, but only 15 percent fewer calories than full-fat products.

Do this: Go ahead and eat full-fat foods — for instance, cheese, sour cream, and a nice, marbled steak. They have slightly more calories than their lower-fat counterparts, but they'll help you feel full longer after you eat. And that'll reduce the number of calories you eat at your meal. In our lab at the University of Connecticut, we've found that people who eat 60 percent of their calories from fat lose weight faster than those who eat just 20 percent of their calories from fat.

Moreover, many of your concerns about saturated fat may be overstated.



3. You (Still) Don't Eat Breakfast

Sure, you've heard this one before. But it's important: Researchers at the University of Massachusetts found that people who don't eat breakfast are nearly five times more likely to be obese than those who make it an everyday habit. That's because if you sleep for 6 to 8 hours, and then skip breakfast, your body is running on fumes by the time you get to work. And that sends you desperately seeking sugar, which happens to be easy to find.

Do this: Eat your first meal within 90 minutes of waking. The UMass scientists determined that people who waited longer increased the likelihood that they'd become heavyweights by 147 percent; those that didn't eat breakfast within 3 hours of waking elevated their risk by 173 percent.



4. You're Eating Too Much Sugar

You've stopped drinking regular soda? Great, but your diet is probably still filled with the sweet stuff. Check the label of your breakfast cereal. Some products marketed as healthy are packed with sugar. Case in point: Kellogg's Smart Start Health Heart cereal contains more sugar per serving — 17 grams — than a serving of Froot Loops. The problem: Sugar raises your blood levels of insulin, a hormone that signals your body to stop burning — and start storing fat.

Do this: Carefully read labels — especially when it comes to cereal. Or even better, trade your morning bowl for an omelet. Saint Louis University scientists found that people who have eggs as part of their breakfast eat fewer calories the rest of the day than those who ate bagels instead. Even though both breakfasts contained the same number of calories, the egg eaters consumed 264 fewer calories for the entire day.



5. You Don't Lift Weights

In a study at the University of Connecticut, we put overweight men on a 1,500-calorie-a-day diet, and divided them into three groups — one that didn't exercise, another that performed aerobic exercise 3 days a week, and a third that did both aerobic exercise and weight training. Each group lost almost the same amount of weight — about 21 pounds. But the lifters shed 5 more pounds of fat than those who didn't pump iron. Why? Their weight loss was almost pure fat, while the other two groups lost just 15 pounds of lard, along with several pounds of muscle.

Do this: Make three total-body weight training sessions a week a non-negotiable part of your weight loss plan. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that lost muscle is replaced by fat over time. This not only makes you look flabby, but it also increases your pants size — even if you somehow manage to keep your scale-weight the same. The reason: Each pound of fat takes up 18 percent more space on your body than each pound of muscle.


Source: MSN Health