10 Diet Myths

by: Beatriz da Costa

Low-fat! Low-carb! Eat all day! Don't eat after eight! Finally, the honest to goodness truth about how to keep your weight under control

Myth No. 1: Don’t eat after 8 p.m.

The Theory: You burn up the food you eat earlier in the day, while late-night calories sit in your system and turn into fat.

The Reality: Calories can’t tell time. “Your body digests and uses calories the same way morning, noon, and night,” says Mary Flynn, Ph.D., a research dietitian at the Miriam Hospital, in Providence. They may sit around a little longer if you eat, then lie on the couch and watch Letterman, but when you move around the next day, your body will dip into its stores. That said, there are other solid reasons to avoid late-night snacking, not least of which is that snacks you grab when you’re tired tend to be unhealthy ones.

The Best Advice: If you often unwind before bed with a bowl of ice cream or buttered popcorn, try cutting the snack out. The calories saved may be enough for you to lose a few pounds a year. If you’re hungry, “eat something on the light side, like a piece of fruit or some cereal with milk,” says Ellie Krieger, a registered dietitian and the author of The Food You Crave (Taunton, $28., www.amazon.com). Night eaters tend to overeat (which leads to weight gain no matter when it’s done) because often they’ve been skimping during the day and come home famished. Being so hungry that you grab whatever is at hand means you’re more likely to make poor choices. “Don’t go longer than about five hours without eating,” says Jo Ann Hattner, a registered dietitian and a nutrition consultant in San Francisco. Just be careful to keep your meals and snacks small.

Myth No. 2: Eating small, frequent meals boosts your metabolism.

The Theory: If you keep adding small amounts of food to your fire (the fire being your metabolism), you will keep it going strong and burn more calories overall.

The Reality: Food intake has a negligible effect on metabolism. Some foods, including those with caffeine, may slightly and temporarily increase metabolism, but the effect is too small to help you lose weight. What most affects your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the rate at which your body burns calories at rest, is body composition and size. More muscles and bigger bodies generally burn more calories overall.

The Best Advice: Build up your muscles. A pound of fat-free tissue burns about 14 calories a day, while a pound of fat burns just two to three calories. And while that difference may not sound like a lot, it will certainly help over time. Remember, too, that when you lose pounds, part of that weight is muscle, warns Liz Neporent, an exercise physiologist and the president of Wellness 360, a New York City–based corporate-wellness-consulting company. That’s why strength training is even more important if you’re on a weight-loss mission. Try the seven-exercise Muscle Maintenance Workout. And if you hate lifting weights, you can instead maintain your muscles by going to a Pilates, body-sculpting, or power-yoga class two to three times a week.

Myth No. 3: Pasta makes you fat.

The Theory: When you eat carbohydrates, your body turns them into sugars, which are then stored as fat.

The Reality: Carbohydrates per se don’t make you fat; extra calories do, whether you eat them in the form of carbs, fats, or protein. Besides, carbohydrates include vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, which are important parts of a healthy diet. In short, the problem isn’t pasta but the sheer volume consumed. “Americans tend to eat too much carbohydrates, fat, and protein. But they overeat carbs most of all,” says Barbara Moore, Ph.D., a nutritionist in Clyde Park, Montana, and a spokesperson for the American Society for Nutrition. “You go to a restaurant and you’re served three cups of pasta with lots of sauce.” Those three cups of pasta can pack up to 600 calories without the sauce.

The Best Advice: Pasta in moderation is fine. Dietitians recommend two or three ounces of uncooked noodles per person — or half of a one-pound box to serve a family of four. This may look like a puny amount, but try thinking of “pasta as an ingredient, rather than as the basis of a dish,” says Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (Wiley, $35, www.amazon.com). “Start with a lot of grilled or sautéed vegetables and maybe a tomato-based sauce. Then add some pasta, sparingly.” If you want protein, add beans, chicken, or shellfish. (For some delicious pasta dishes, see Healthy Pasta Recipes. Make your pasta — or bread or rice or cereal — whole-grain, which has more vitamins and minerals than white pasta. You’ll also be getting fiber, which helps you feel full.

Myth No. 4: Coffee can help you lose weight.

The Theory: The caffeine in coffee acts as an appetite suppressant and a metabolism booster.

The Reality: While coffee may temporarily squelch your appetite, drinking a couple of cups a day won’t have enough of an effect to help you lose weight. Besides, pouring too much coffee into your system — drinking, say, four to seven cups a day — may lead to anxiety, sleeplessness, and an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.

The Best Advice: Enjoy a cup or two of coffee (or tea) every day, if you please. Just be sure that if you add anything to the brew — like cream, sugar, or cocoa powder — you take those calories into account. For example, a 16-ounce Starbucks café mocha can contain a whopping 330 calories (60 more than some chocolate bars). What’s more, those calories might not make you feel as full as the same number of calories eaten in solid form.

Another coffee concern: sleep disruption, which new evidence reveals is linked to weight control. “Every time people feel tired, they think, I have to have a latte,” says Liz Applegate, Ph.D., director of sports nutrition at the University of California, Davis. “They become addicted to caffeine on a higher level, and it takes four to six hours to clear out of the system. Sleep is not as good, and you’re tired the next day.” And probably hungrier, too. At least two studies have shown that when people are sleep-deprived, they produce more of the hormone ghrelin, an appetite stimulant, and less leptin, an appetite suppressant. Not to mention that your resistance to the doughnut’s siren song is a whole lot lower when you’re pooped.

Myth No. 5: Milk can help you lose weight.

The Theory: Calcium helps the body break down fat more efficiently, stimulating weight loss.

The Reality: Dairy doesn’t appear to have magic properties. A few studies from the mid-2000s concluded that dieters who consumed dairy lost more weight than dieters who did not. But other studies showed no effect, and still others showed a link between high milk consumption and eating more calories.

The Best Advice: Go ahead and eat dairy products, but stick with low-fat versions, which are lower in both calories and unhealthy saturated fats.

Milk products are loaded with calcium, of course, but how much calcium you need is a matter of debate. The government recommends at least 1,000 milligrams of calcium for adults under 50 years old (about the amount in three cups of milk) and 1,200 milligrams for people over 50; however, the Harvard School of Public Health holds that no one really knows the healthiest, safest amount of calcium that adults should consume. If dairy products don’t agree with you, you can get calcium from fortified soy milk; fortified orange juice; dark green, leafy vegetables, such as kale and collard greens; and certain fish, such as canned salmon.

Myth No. 6: Going on a diet is the best way to lose weight.

The Theory: Switching to a prescriptive plan temporarily is the smartest way to drop pounds.

The Reality: Short-term, you do lose weight on any plan that results in your eating fewer calories. But temporary changes don’t lead to permanent losses. “A diet won’t work if you think of it as doing a different thing for a while and then you’re going to stop doing it,” says Christopher Gardner, an assistant professor of nutritional science at Stanford University School of Medicine. “If you have a new way of eating and think, I’m going to eat like this forever, that’s the way to lose weight.” And keep it off.

The Best Advice: Don’t go on a “diet” — a quick fix that begins on New Year’s Day or before bathing-suit season. Instead, change the way you eat. Find a satisfying eating plan that you can live with long-term, and make sure you’re eating the right amount of calories for weight loss. Then, when you’ve taken off some weight, don’t go back to eating as much as you did before you cut calories. “To maintain a lighter weight, you have to eat a little less than you did to maintain your heavier weight before,” says Gardner.

Besides, dieting alone won’t work as well as dieting plus exercise — a little bit of exercise, or maybe a lot. Since 1994 the National Weight Control Registry has followed and analyzed the habits of successful weight losers (defined as people who have maintained at least a 30-pound weight loss for a year or more). Among its findings: Those who kept weight off exercised — with brisk walking or some other moderate-intensity activity — an average of one hour a day. “One of the most important aspects of weight maintenance is a high dose of physical activity,” says Rena Wing, Ph.D., a cofounder of the registry and a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School, at Brown University.

Myth No. 7: Eating protein and carbs at different meals will help you lose weight.

The Theory: Protein and carbohydrates require different enzymes for digestion; if you eat the two separately, you improve digestion and further weight loss.

The Reality: Your digestive tract can handle a variety of food groups at the same time. There is no proof that eating protein and carbohydrates separately aids digestion or weight loss, says nutritionist Christopher Gardner. Indeed, it’s healthier to combine protein and fiber-filled carbs than to separate them. “The pairing of protein and fiber is what fills you up the most and gives you the most energy,” says Elisa Zied, a New York City–based registered dietitian and a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. “An apple is good, but an apple with peanut butter is more filling.” Also, some of the best foods for you — nuts, seeds, legumes — are made up of both protein and carbohydrates. “To people who say that you should separate protein and carbohydrates, I say, ‘Why did God make beans?’” says dietitian Ellie Krieger.

The Best Advice: Eat protein along with carbs, but choose with care. The best protein choices are lean meats, poultry, low-fat dairy products, and tofu, because they have little (if any) saturated fat. The best carbs are whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, which offer more health benefits than refined grains. “Those foods take longer to absorb, so there’s a slower release into the body and a more steady energy source,” says Hope Barkoukis, an assistant professor of nutrition at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland.

Myth No. 8: To lose weight, you need to cut calories drastically.

The Theory: Eat much less; weigh much less.

The Reality: Sure, if you subsist on 1,200 calories a day, you’ll take off weight, but it won’t be for long. Consider an analysis of 31 studies of long-term diets, where the diets averaged 1,200 calories a day. The report, published last April in American Psychologist, found that within four to five years, the majority of dieters in these studies regained the weight they had lost. “Psychologically, it’s difficult for people to adhere to strict diets over a long period because they feel deprived and hungry,” says Traci Mann, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, and the lead author of the report. “Also, our bodies are brilliant at keeping us alive when we try to starve them.” Your body becomes more efficient at using the calories you consume, so you need fewer to survive. In addition, people who are put on a very-low-calorie diet (800 calories a day) have an increased risk of developing gallstones and digestive issues.

The Best Advice: Don’t starve yourself. “If you want to lose weight and keep it off forever, you need a modest calorie restriction that you simply continue and never stop,” says nutritionist Christopher Gardner. But what’s the right number of calories for you? Use this easy formula, a favorite of cardiologist Thomas Lee, editor in chief of the Harvard Heart Letter.

First find your activity level on the table below. Multiply your weight by the number indicated. (You may fall between two categories. If that’s the case, adjust the number by adding a point or so.) The result is the number of calories you need to maintain your weight. Let’s say you weigh 135 pounds and do light exercise one to three days a week. Multiply 135 by 13.5 to get, approximately, 1,800 calories. If you want to drop some pounds, try cutting out 250 calories a day, says Lee. In a year, if you make no other changes, you could be 26 pounds lighter. Exercise more and you could lose more, too.

And Your Number Is…

You Exercise: Almost never
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 12

You Exercise: Lightly, one to three days a week
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 13.5

You Exercise: Moderately, three to five days a week
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 15.5

You Exercise: Vigorously, six to seven days a week
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 17

You Exercise: Vigorously, daily, and you have a physical job
Multiply Your Current Weight By: 19

Myth No. 9: Diet foods help you diet.

The Theory: Low-fat, low-carb, and artificially sweetened packaged foods make losing weight painless.

The Reality: Low-fat and low-carb don’t always mean low-cal, and if you’re trying to lose weight, stocking up on these treats could undermine your efforts. In a series of recent studies, for instance, participants ate up to 50 percent more of foods that the researchers falsely labeled “low-fat” than they did of the same exact foods with real labels. “Consumers expect that low-fat M&M’s contain 20 percent fewer calories than their regular counterparts,” concluded the authors of the studies, Brian Wansink, Ph.D., and Pierre Chandon, Ph.D., in the Journal of Marketing Research, in November 2006. “Importantly, as a result, they expect that comparable increases in serving sizes are justified.” Some experts also believe that consuming artificial sweeteners might backfire. Two long-term studies looking at the drinking habits of thousands of people have found a correlation between drinking diet soda and being overweight.

The Best Advice: When you’re tempted by a snack food that’s labeled “light” or “low-fat,” check the nutrition label. Look at how many calories are in a serving, then compare that number with the calories in a comparable product that’s not making a label claim. And then consider having just a small amount of the real thing. You may end up consuming fewer calories with, say, a full-fat product than you would with a low-fat version, because fat tends to be more satisfying. And take care that you don’t decide — consciously or not — that substituting a diet soda for a full-sugar one gives you license to eat a box of Valentine’s chocolates instead.

Myth No. 10: Eating fat makes you fat.

The Theory: Fat has nine calories per gram, whereas carbs and protein have only four per gram, so to lose weight you have to avoid fat.

The Reality: Fat is not the enemy. Although fat-laden products can be full of calories, a modest amount of fat may help you feel full (so you eat less overall) and make healthy foods, like vegetables, taste better (so you may eat more of them). Fat also helps with the absorption of certain vitamins and phytonutrients, which are compounds in plants that are thought to promote health.

The Best Advice: Eat fat, but don’t go overboard. And think about which fats you do eat, as some are better for you than others. Choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, found in liquid oils such as canola, safflower, and olive; most nuts; and fish. These fats don’t raise blood cholesterol levels and may reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. The fats to limit or avoid are saturated fats, found mainly in beef and dairy products, and trans fats, which are in a lot of packaged foods, fried fast foods, and margarine. These are no more caloric than the good fats, but they are less healthful, as they increase the risk of heart disease. The Institute of Medicine, which advises the government on scientific matters, including health, recommends that when it comes to saturated fat, cholesterol, and trans fats, you eat as little as possible. If we’ve learned anything as we’ve swung from low-fat to low-carb and back again, it’s this: There’s no need to eat dry salad or forgo any food you adore. Most everything in moderation will keep your weight where it belongs.

Source: real simple

Younger Women Often Miss Signs of Heart Attack

Many younger women ignore or simply don't recognize the warning signs of a heart attack, often because it doesn't resemble the typical "Hollywood heart attack."

So say the authors of a study being presented Friday at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke, in Baltimore.

"So many women said, 'We wish we had a better stereotype, you never see anything in the media,'" said study author Judith Lichtman, an associate professor of epidemiology and public health at Yale School of Medicine. "I personally would love to see some cutting-edge TV series of, for example, a young person having a heart attack with atypical symptoms."

"The classic image of someone having a heart attack is someone like John Belushi. It's a heavy man clutching his chest. We never think of young women as having heart disease, so the image is not part of their consciousness," added Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of Women & Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "It's so important that we not only tell women that heart disease doesn't necessary have to look like [a Hollywood script], but they have to understand what makes them at risk."

Heart disease is the leading killer of American women, claiming almost half a million lives a year, or about one death per minute. According to background information from the authors, 16,000 young women with heart disease die every year and 40,000 are hospitalized.

Last year, a study from the same group of researchers found that women under the age of 55 often fail to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack until it's too late.

Eighty-eight percent of women in that trial reported traditional symptoms of severe chest pain. Yet only 42 percent suspected something was wrong with their heart.

Only half of the women experiencing heart attack symptoms sought care within the first hour, apparently because they thought their symptoms weren't real or weren't serious.

For this study, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 30 women aged 55 and older a week after they had been discharged from the hospital following a heart attack.

Many didn't realize the symptoms were due to a heart attack. For example, one woman said she was told she was experiencing symptoms of acid reflux. Others attributed symptoms to fatigue, overexertion or stress.

Often, the symptoms just didn't line up with how heart attacks are presented in the popular media.

"I [had] probably seen a show or something with somebody having a heart attack," said one woman. "And they fall. They grab their chest. And then they grab their arm... I mean, you don't see anybody saying I have pain in my jaw or especially a heart attack, you don't see them vomiting . . . I did not know that and it's probably because of television, I would say is why I thought it would just be in the chest."

Similarly, another woman told investigators, "It's like... I didn't have any of the typical heart attack symptoms that you always hear about on TV and the ER hospital shows."

Some delayed treatment because symptoms went away for a while, or because they were too busy or had experienced prior, negative encounters with the health-care system (" . . . they throw you out, you know," said one woman. "If you don't have the money right there, then in two days you're gone").

One woman said she called her doctor about chest pains but was scheduled for a regular appointment in five days. Another woman who went to the emergency room spent an hour trying to find a supervisor to help her after a "rude" nurse just kept telling her to have a seat.

"A lot of women were triaged for a regular visit or, even in the ER, were being looked up for a lot of things other than a heart attack," Lichtman said.

Ironically, for some women, it was actually a relief to know that they were having a heart attack, that finally the mystery was over, Lichtman said.

Lichtman and her colleagues will be looking at this issue in more depth in a U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded study enrolling 2,000 women under 55 and 1,000 men in the same age range.

"A little bit of empowerment goes a long way," Steinbaum said. "Knowing your risk and knowing the potential for heart disease, seeking early care for symptoms that are really unclear and then saying, 'I am at risk for heart disease, please help me' becomes important in the paradigm of how this needs to develop."

from everydayhealth.com

New Stealth Chemicals Hidden in Your Food

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If you pick up a can of soup and find that the sodium levels are lower than you expected, or that a food item advertises it has “less sugar” or “no MSG” ... then there may be cause for alarm.

Perhaps one day we can all simply eat cans of mush, and it won’t matter because they’ll contain chemicals to block and alter all of our taste receptors! This is an example of malicious brilliance at its finest.

Processed foods, by their very nature, do not taste good unless they have loads of artificial colors and flavoring agents, salt, sugar and often MSG added to doctor up the flavors.

In fact, most processed foods would taste incredibly bitter if they weren’t doctored up because of things like their extremely hot cooking processes and added caffeine (in soft drinks).

So what do food companies like Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes, Campbell Soup, and Coca-Cola do?

They hire Senomyx, a biotech company that can skillfully manipulate your taste buds with synthetic chemicals.

The company has already developed several chemicals that, although they contain no flavor of their own, activate or block receptors in your mouth that taste. The chemicals can mimic or enhance savory, sweet and salty tastes, and are intended to reduce the use of sugar, salt and monosodium glutamate (MSG) in processed foods.

One of Senomyx’s chemicals even causes a “cooling” taste, and we have only just begun to hear about the “innovations” that come from this company.

Senomyx already has 113 patents, and 371 more pending, in the United States, Europe and elsewhere in the world.

A Brief Lesson About Your Taste Buds

When you were in grade school, you were probably taught that certain areas of your tongue can taste different flavors. The “sweet” taste buds, for instance, were said to be at the tip of your tongue, and the “bitter” ones in back.

This taste-bud tongue map is still being taught today, but it has been known for decades to be entirely incorrect. In reality, each one of your taste buds contains 50 to 100 receptors for each taste. This means that you can taste every flavor there is with every taste bud on your tongue.

And, along with the standard sweet, sour, salty and bitter tastes that everyone has heard of, your tongue can also taste a fifth basic taste: umami (the taste of glutamate, which is found in many Japanese foods, bacon and also MSG).

It is also being debated whether or not there is actually a sixth taste receptor for fat on your tongue as well.

Of course, your taste buds are not only there for pleasurable purposes. They also help you determine if a food is spoiled, unripe or otherwise unsafe to eat, which is why you’re probably better off leaving your taste buds as nature intended them to be: in fully functioning, tasting condition.

Your Taste Buds May Already be Deceiving You

Nestle is already marketing products that contain one of Senomyx’s savory enhancers.

But you would never know it, because the chemical compounds are lumped in with an ingredient that’s already listed on most processed foods: “artificial flavors.”

I did a little digging and found that the first product sold by Nestle that includes these “savory flavor ingredients” is bouillon used as a base to make soups and stews. So if you are using one of theirs that lists “artificial flavors,” I’d be very suspicious.

Meanwhile, because the compounds are being used in small amounts (less than one part per million), Senomyx did not have to go through the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval process typically necessary to release food additives. Instead of the lengthy FDA process, the company only had to be classified as "generally recognized as safe" by the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association -- a task that took less than 18 months.

And as for safety, well there was that one three-month rat study. That’s right: one three-month long study is apparently enough for major food manufacturers to decide that a never-before-used chemical is safe for you and your family to eat.

Unfortunately, for now it appears that these taste-bud-altering chemicals are here to stay, as earlier this month both Coca-Cola and Nestle extended their research agreements with Senomyx.

If You Want Chemical-Free Food …

It is becoming more important than ever to avoid processed foods. At the very least, boycott any product that lists “artificial flavors” as an ingredient.

You can tell a real food from a processed food because real foods are:

* Grown, not processed
* Messy, not neat and convenient
* Of variable quality, not always the same
* Prone to spoiling, not “forever” fresh
* Vibrantly colored and textured, not dull and bland
* Naturally flavorful, not artificially flavored
* Strongly connected to the land and culture

Real foods have flavors that your taste buds won’t want to miss, so take a break from the grocery store and take advantage of your local farmer’s markets. There you’ll find fresh, whole foods that your taste buds will be happy to recognize.



Sources: Dr. Mercola.com

Diabetes Myths and Truths

published at everydayhealth.com
Despite the tremendous amount of medical information now available to the public, many inaccurate ideas still persist about the nature and treatment of diabetes. Read on to separate fact from fiction.

The Myth: Eating too much sugar causes diabetes.

The Truth: Years ago, folks called it "sugar diabetes," implying that the disease was caused by eating too much of the sweet stuff. Medical experts know now that diabetes is triggered by a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors. However, being overweight — which can happen if you indulge in high-calorie sugary foods — does increase your risk for developing type 2 diabetes. If you have a history of diabetes in your family, eating a healthy meal plan and regular exercise are recommended to manage your weight.

The Myth: People with diabetes can't eat any sweets or chocolate.

The Truth: If part of a healthy meal plan, or combined with exercise, sweets and desserts can be eaten by people with diabetes. They are no more "off limits" to people with diabetes than they are to people without diabetes.

The Myth: People with diabetes can only eat special diabetic foods.

The Truth: A healthy meal plan for people with diabetes is the same as that for everyone: low in fat (especially the saturated and trans fats found in butter, lard, full-fat dairy products and meats, and solid vegetable oils), moderate in salt and sugar, with meals based on whole-grain foods, vegetables and fruit. Diabetic and "dietetic" versions of sugar-containing foods offer no special benefit. They still raise blood glucose levels, are usually more expensive and can also have a laxative effect if they contain sugar alcohols.

The Myth: All diabetics have to take insulin injections.

The Truth: Injected insulin is usually only necessary for those with Type 1 diabetes, in which the body no longer produces it own insulin. Those with Type 2 generally have plenty of insulin, but their bodies don't respond well to it. Some people with type 2 diabetes, particularly if blood-glucose levels are poorly controlled, do need diabetes pills or insulin shots to help their bodies use glucose for energy. However, most type 2 cases can be helped without medication, by losing weight, adopting a healthier diet, increasing exercise and other lifestyle changes. (By the way, insulin cannot be taken as a pill, as the hormone would be broken down during digestion just like the protein in food. Insulin must be injected into the fat under the skin for it to get into your blood.)

The Myth: If you have diabetes, you have to stay away from starchy foods like bread, potatoes and pasta.

The Truth: Whole-grain breads, cereals and pasta, brown rice and starchy vegetables such as potatoes, yams, peas and corn are part of a healthy meal plan and can be included in your meals and snacks. These foods, high in complex carbohydrates, are also a good source of fiber, which helps keep your gastrointestinal system running smoothly. The key is portion size. Most people with diabetes should limit themselves to three or four servings of complex carbohydrates a day.

The Myth: Type 2 Diabetes only affects blood-sugar levels, decreasing your energy.

The Truth: Type 2 diabetes affects many different systems and organs of the body, including the cardiovascular system, leading to stroke or heart disease; the eyes, which can result in conditions from dry eye to retinal disease (retinopathy); the nerves, causing severe damage (neuropathy) that can necessitate lower-limb amputation; the kidneys, which fail and require dialysis; and the skin, which can become prone to infections. Experts predict that, over the next 30 years, there will be 35 million heart attacks, 13 million strokes, 8 million new cases of blindness, 6 million kidney failures, 2 millions amputations and 62 million deaths — all linked to diabetes. Learn more about many serious complications and how to cope with them.

The Myth: Only adults can develop Type 2 Diabetes.

The Truth: Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in school-aged children. About 1 in every 400 to 600 children has type 1 diabetes, which was used to be called "juvenile diabetes," which is caused by disruption of the pancreas' ability to produce insulin. However, in recent years more and more children and teens have become overweight (10 to 15 percent, about double the number of two decades ago), and so increasing numbers of young people are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. According to several studies, since 1994, cases have increased from less than 5 percent to between 30 and 50 percent. Two million of those age 12 to 19 (or 1 in 6 overweight adolescents) have pre-diabetes.

Last updated: March 14, 2008
Republished with permission from Woman's Day, a publication of Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.

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Talk Therapy proves effective for terminal cancer patients

-as published in The Freeman, April 21, 2008-

Talk therapy can help treat depression symptoms in patients with terminal cancer, according to Japanese researchers who reviewed the results of six studies that included a total of 517 patients with incurable cancer and depression.

The primary type of depression treatment for these patients was supportive expressive group therapy, in which they were encouraged to discuss their deepest fears and feelings and to help each other cope with them.

The review authors found that the benefits of this kind of treatment were only slightly less than those found in clinical trials of antidepressant drugs in general patient populations.

"Psychotherapy can be a promising treatment for ameliorating depressive states in advanced cancer patients if they prefer to receive it, "said review lead author Tatsuo Akechi, an associate professor of psychiatry and cognitive-behavioral medicine at the Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

However, Akechi and his colleagues found that psychotherapy did not significantly improve patient anxiety. This may be because there were too few patients to give enough statistical power to demonstrate an effect, Akechi suggested.

The researchers didn't examine whether psychotherapy could improve survival or response to cancer treatment. The review appears in the current issue of the journal The Cochrane Library.

"The key finding is that psychotherapy for depression for gravely ill cancer patients works," David Spiegel, associate chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Standford University School of Medicine and an expert on therapy in cancer patients, said in a prepared statement. He wasn't involved in the review but was one of the lead investigators on one of the studies included in the review.

Spiegel said that many doctors don't look for depression in patients with advanced cancer, or they consider it a normal and untreatable response among dying patients. Spiegel noted that only about 25 percent of patients with terminal cancer suffer depression due to their situation, which is different than the grief, sadness and anger, associated with the thought of dying.

"Depression and existential dread or sadness is not the same thing. Patients with depression feel hopeless, helpless and worthless. They feel like a burden to tohers," Spiegel said.

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Shocking Facts About Pharmaceutical Industry

Another article of Mercola.com of which I want to share with everybody.

Shocking Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry

Big drug companies have been accused of putting profits above patients, spinning false PR campaigns and more. Here are some of the most shocking facts about the pharmaceutical industry.

The price of drugs is increasing faster than anything else a patient pays for: The prices of the most heavily prescribed drugs are routinely jacked up, sometimes several times a year. Some medications have a mark-up of 1,000 percent over the cost of their ingredients.

Your doctor may have an ulterior motive behind your prescription: Drug reps often give gifts to convince doctors to prescribe the medications that they represent. These drug reps usually have no medical or science education.

Pharmaceutical companies spend more on marketing than research: Almost twice as much!

Guilty of Medicare fraud: Pharmaceutical companies are being tried in federal courts as a result of their exploitation of Medicare. AstraZeneca had to pay more than $340 million in penalties for coaching doctors to cheat Medicare.

The combined wealth of the top 5 pharmaceutical companies outweigh GNP of sub-Saharan Africa: In fact, the combined worth of the world’s top five drug companies is twice the combined GNP of that entire region.

Americans pay more for prescription meds than anyone else in the world: $200 billion in 2002 alone.

"New" Drugs aren't really new: Two-thirds of “new” prescription drugs are identical to existing drugs or modified versions of them.

Drug companies are taking advantage of underdeveloped countries to perform clinical trials: In developing countries, government oversight is more lax.

For more shocking facts, click the link below.

Sources:

• Nursing Online Education Database March 27, 2008

Plastic Recycle Symbols - what does it means?

Have you seen recycle symbols in your plastic bottles? Do you know what does it means? I happened to read an article from Mercola.com regarding plastic recycle symbols and it is must to let everyone know about this.
Number 1 Plastics -- PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate)

• Found In: Soft drinks, water and beer bottles; mouthwash bottles; peanut butter containers; salad dressing and vegetable oil containers; ovenable food trays.
• Recycling: Pick up through most curbside recycling programs.
• Recycled Into: Polar fleece, fiber, tote bags, furniture, carpet, paneling, straps, (occasionally) new containers

It poses low risk of leaching breakdown products. Recycling rates remain relatively low (around 20 percent), though the material is in high demand by remanufacturers.

Number 2 Plastics -- HDPE (high density polyethylene)

• Found In: Milk jugs, juice bottles; bleach, detergent and household cleaner bottles; shampoo bottles; some trash and shopping bags; motor oil bottles; butter and yogurt tubs; cereal box liners
• Recycling: Pick up through most curbside recycling programs, although some only allow those containers with necks.
• Recycled Into: Laundry detergent bottles, oil bottles, pens, recycling containers, floor tile, drainage pipe, lumber, benches, doghouses, picnic tables, fencing

HDPE carries low risk of leaching and is readily recyclable into many goods.

Number 3 Plastics -- V (Vinyl) or PVC

• Found In: Window cleaner and detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, cooking oil bottles, clear food packaging, wire jacketing, medical equipment, siding, windows, piping
• Recycling: Rarely recycled; accepted by some plastic lumber makers.
• Recycled Into: Decks, paneling, mudflaps, roadway gutters, flooring, cables, speed bumps, mats

PVC contains chlorine, so its manufacture can release highly dangerous dioxins. If you must cook with PVC, don't let the plastic touch food. Never burn PVC, because it releases toxins.

Number 4 Plastics -- LDPE (low density polyethylene)

• Found In: Squeezable bottles; bread, frozen food, dry cleaning and shopping bags; tote bags; clothing; furniture; carpet
• Recycling: LDPE is not often recycled through curbside programs, but some communities will accept it. Plastic shopping bags can be returned to many stores for recycling.
• Recycled Into: Trash can liners and cans, compost bins, shipping envelopes, paneling, lumber, landscaping ties, floor tile

Historically, LDPE has not been accepted through most American curbside recycling programs, but more and more communities are starting to accept it.

Number 5 Plastics -- PP (polypropylene)

• Found In: Some yogurt containers, syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, caps, straws, medicine bottles
• Recycling: Number 5 plastics can be recycled through some curbside programs.
• Recycled Into: Signal lights, battery cables, brooms, brushes, auto battery cases, ice scrapers, landscape borders, bicycle racks, rakes, bins, pallets, trays

Polypropylene has a high melting point, and so is often chosen for containers that must accept hot liquid. It is gradually becoming more accepted by recyclers.

Number 6 Plastics -- PS (polystyrene)

• Found In: Disposable plates and cups, meat trays, egg cartons, carry-out containers, aspirin bottles, compact disc cases
• Recycling: Number 6 plastics can be recycled through some curbside programs.
• Recycled Into: Insulation, light switch plates, egg cartons, vents, rulers, foam packing, carry-out containers

Polystyrene can be made into rigid or foam products -- in the latter case it is popularly known as the trademark Styrofoam. Evidence suggests polystyrene can leach potential toxins into foods. The material was long on environmentalists' hit lists for dispersing widely across the landscape, and for being notoriously difficult to recycle.

Number 7 Plastics -- Miscellaneous

• Found In: Three- and five-gallon water bottles, 'bullet-proof' materials, sunglasses, DVDs, iPod and computer cases, signs and displays, certain food containers, nylon
• Recycling: Number 7 plastics have traditionally not been recycled, though some curbside programs now take them.
• Recycled Into: Plastic lumber, custom-made products

A wide variety of plastic resins that don't fit into the previous categories are lumped into number 7. A few are even made from plants (polyactide) and are compostable. Polycarbonate is number 7, and is the hard plastic that has parents worried these days, after studies have shown it can leach potential hormone disruptors.

Sources:

• The Daily Green March 31, 2008

Can Exercise Ease Anxiety?

If you exercise regularly, you know that a good workout can help you feel less stressed and better able to cope with problems. But can exercise help relieve anxiety disorders?

Some research shows that physical activity can modestly decrease anxiety symptoms. Exercise also boosts self-esteem slightly and improves social interaction skills, both of which can help reduce anxiety. Just how exercise helps isn’t known, but researchers believe a combination of factors probably come into play. Exercise increases endorphins, natural chemicals that act like painkillers. And when done with a friend or in a class, it can promote social interaction.

While it’s fair to say that exercise is beneficial for both mind and body, studies reporting that it reduces anxiety should be viewed with caution. For one thing, few of these studies used subjects diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Instead, they relied on participants’ self-reports of anxiety symptoms. It’s unclear whether the reported benefits would hold true for people with anxiety disorders. Furthermore, the studies didn’t differentiate among types of exercise, intensity, or duration, so it’s impossible to recommend a specific regimen. Despite the unknowns, the authors of a recent review article in The Physician and Sportsmedicine recommended that clinicians strongly encourage people with anxiety to exercise regularly in addition to adhering to proven treatment programs.

Besides boosting your mood, regular exercise offers a host of other benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, protecting against heart disease and cancer, and helping prevent diabetes.

-from Everyday Health

Anti-Cancer Cabbage Soup Recipe

By Dr. Ben Kim
If you want to significantly lower your risk of developing cancer, consider eating cabbage at least a few times a week. Cabbage belongs to the Cruciferous family of vegetables - other vegetables that belong in this family include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, Brussels sprouts, Bok Choy, watercress, and arugula.

Phytonutrients found in cabbage and other Cruciferous vegetables stimulate your genes to increase production of enzymes that detoxify your cells, resulting in elimination of free radicals, toxins, and potential carcinogens from your body.

If you do a search through the archives of peer-reviewed and indexed journals at the National Library of Medicine, you'll find numerous studies that indicate that people who eat large amounts of cruciferous vegetables have a lower-than-average risk of developing lung, colon, breast, ovarian, prostate, and bladder cancer.

Perhaps the most powerful, anti-cancer phytonutrient found in cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables is indole-3-carbinole, a compound that stimulates cellular detoxification, including estrogen detoxification. Indole-3-carbinole's ability to prevent estrogen dominance is what makes cruciferous vegetables like cabbage an excellent food choice for cancer prevention, particularly breast cancer prevention.

If you want to enjoy the many health benefits of cabbage but don't know where to start, give the following Cabbage-Miso soup a try. It's super easy to make, and is one of the tastiest soups that we enjoy in our home.

Cabbage Miso Soup Recipe

6-8 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups (around 10 ounces) chopped green cabbage
6 cups water or vegetable broth (vegetable broth adds lots of flavor)
2 celery ribs, diagonally sliced
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
8 garlic cloves, 4 finely chopped and 4 sliced
1/3 cup miso (or Korean den jang)
Few drops sesame oil per bowl(optional)

Directions:

1. Bring 6 cups of water or vegetable broth to a boil in a big soup pot. Add cabbage, celery, onion, carrot, and sliced garlic. Cover, reduce to low-medium heat, and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

2. Stir in chopped garlic, then turn off heat. Dissolve miso with some of hot soup liquid in a cup or bowl, then pour it into the pot. For an extra zing of flavor, add a few drops of sesame oil to each bowl just before serving. If you enjoy sweet and sour soups, add fresh lime juice (about 1 lime for the whole pot) right before adding the miso.

Enjoy this nourishing cabbage and miso soup - it goes wonderfully with a bowl of rice and kim chi, a fermented Korean cabbage dish.

How to Choose a Weight-Loss Program

Some people lose weight on their own, while others like the support of a structured program. If you decide to join a weight-loss program, here are some questions to ask before you join:

• Does the program provide counseling to help you change your eating and activity habits? The program should teach you how to permanently change those eating and lifestyle habits, such as lack of physical activity, that have contributed to weight gain.
• Does the staff include qualified health professional, such as nutritionists, registered dietitians, doctors, nurses, psychologists, and exercise physiologists? Qualified professionals can help you lose weight safely and successfully. You need to be evaluated by a physician if you have any health problems, take or plan to take any medicine, or plan to lose more than 15 to 20 pounds. If your weight-control plan uses a very low-calorie diet (a special liquid formula that replaces all food for 1 to 4 months), you will also need an exam and follow-up visits by a doctor.
• Does the program offer training on how to deal with times when you may feel stressed and slip back into old habits? The program should provide long-term strategies for preventing and coping with possible weight problems in the future. These strategies might include setting up a support system and a regular physical activity routing.

• Do you help decide on food choices and weight-loss goals? In setting weight-loss goals, the program should consider your personal food likes and dislikes, as well as your lifestyle.
  

• Are there fees or costs for additional items, such as dietary supplements? You need to know the total costs of participating in the program.
• How successful is the program? Many programs don’t gather information on how well they work, but it is worthwhile to ask what percentage of people who start this program complete it, what percentage of people experience problems or side effects (and what are they), and what is the average weight loss among those who finish the program.

-from Everyday Health

Are Women More Stressed?

A survey of 30,000 people in 30 countries has found that in similar circumstances, women are more likely than men to say they are under stress. Other studies suggest that women are three times more likely than men to become depressed in response to a stressful event. And women are disproportionately subject to certain kinds of severe stress — especially child sexual abuse, adult sexual assaults, and domestic violence.

Everyday experiences as well as traumatic ones may provoke stress, leading to depression in women. Women, who are often raised to care for others, tend to subordinate their own needs more than men. For example, women who work outside the home also tend to work a "second shift" — taking care of housework, children, and older relatives. Many have too much to do in too little time, with too little control over how it is done. Marriage and children, while a haven for some women, ratchet up the stress level for others. Studies have found that, compared with their single counterparts or married men, married women are less likely to feel satisfied. In an unhappy marriage, the wife is three times more likely to be depressed than the husband. Being a mother of young children increases your risk for depression, too.

Another kind of stress is poverty. Women are on average poorer than men — especially single mothers with young children, who have a particularly high rate of depression.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) can involve emotional fluctuations on top of physical symptoms such as bloating and tiredness. Women with PMS may feel sad, anxious, irritable, and angry. They may also suffer from crying spells, mood changes, trouble concentrating, loss of interest in daily activities, and a feeling of being overwhelmed or out of control. Sometimes depression is mistaken for PMS, or vice versa. To help distinguish the two, chart your symptoms through two menstrual cycles to see if they appear only in the week before menstruation and go away a day or two after bleeding begins. If a clear and persistent pattern emerges, it’s likely that changing hormone levels are to blame. If a clear pattern doesn’t emerge, depression may be the culprit.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is a severe form of PMS that occurs in 2%–10% of menstruating women. It can cause symptoms similar to a major depressive episode in women who are unusually sensitive to the changing hormone levels of the menstrual cycle. Some of that sensitivity may be due to interactions between female hormones and neurotransmitters that regulate mood and arousal.

Whether PMS, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or depression is at the root of your symptoms, it’s important to talk to your doctor about the fluctuations in your mood and how best to treat them.

Researchers are also investigating whether hormones play a role in depression around the time of menopause. Some women report feeling depressed during perimenopause, a time of transition that occurs in the months or years before menstruation stops. It’s commonly believed that declining levels of estrogen are to blame, although this has not been proved scientifically. When estrogen is given to treat depression, the results have been mixed. For now, estrogen’s role in depression during perimenopause remains controversial.

There is evidence to suggest that genes play a role, too. Researchers have identified certain genetic mutations that are linked to severe depression — some of which are found only in women. In one of these cases, the mutation is in a gene that controls female hormone regulation. These biological differences could account for some of the difference in the rates of depression between men and women.
-from Everyday Health