Reasons Why Your Diet Isn’t Working

This is a guest post by krishna..

If you’re being repeatedly disappointed every time you step on the scales or slip into your jeans, then you know your diet isn’t working. How could this be, you ask yourself. You could have sworn you were doing everything right! Below, you will find the top five most plausible reasons your diet isn’t working:

1. You’re Not Trying Hard Enough – Ouch. That’s the one thing you didn’t want to hear, wasn’t it? Still, you need to take a step back and assess how much you are committed to this new diet. Are you still sneaking in things you shouldn’t? Are you allowing yourself “breaks” on the weekend?

2. Your Body Is Adjusting – It’s possible that your body has slowed its metabolism in order to conserve energy. As your body adjusts to your new diet (which, hopefully, is a safe and sensible diet), you may see a stalemate for a while when you step on the scales.

3. You Don’t Drink Enough Water – Hydration is essential for both physical and mental well-being and people really underestimate the power of drinking water. It will flush out your body’s toxins, stem cravings and more, so drink your recommended 8-10 glasses a day. If you are sweating a lot from a regular workout routine, you should be drinking even more than that!

4. You Are Still Eating “American-Sized” Portions – There is a growing problem in America and other Westernized cultures where people’s ideas of portion size are completely skewed. Maybe we should blame restaurants that offer us enormous meals. Still, you need to learn how to properly portion your meals, rather than adhere to society’s newfound standard.

5. Your Diet Isn’t “Working” Because You Are Impatient – It is very possible that your diet is working fine, yet it will be doomed to failure because you get impatient. The slower you drop the pounds, the better, which may disappoint those of you trying to get bikini fit in six weeks. Just remember, you are doing this for long-term health.

The above tips are provided on the assumption that your diet is a sensible one. Of course something like the carrot juice diet fad was doomed for failure – that is no way to sustain your life on a long-term basis. Instead, your “diet” should merely consist of well-rounded, lean meals. Throw in some regular exercise and you will realize just how much you were over thinking this weight loss thing.

Green Tea and Resistance Training

The study investigated the effects of the consumption of green tea for 7 days on biomarkers (i.e. indicators) of oxidative stress in young men undergoing resistance exercise. Blood samples were taken before and after exercise and were analysed for total antioxidant capacity. The control group (i.e. those who didn’t drink green tea) had reduced levels of Glutathione (a very strong antioxidant produced in the body). In addition other activities increased in the control group as a result of exercise (i.e. by-products: creatine kinase (CK), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) & xanthine oxidase (XO)). Green tea reduced the post-exercise concentration of some of the above by-products and increased the values of total polyphenols (antioxidants from Green Tea) and Glutathione. Green tea also inhibited a significant rise in the other by-products, namely CK and XO activities.

Fructose and Fat gain Study

According to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition, fat-build up from fructose consumption may be greater than consumption of other types of sugars such as glucose and sucrose.

The study involved six young, lean participants who had to drink either:

A soft drink sweetened with 100% glucos

A soft drink sweetened with 50% glucose and 50% fructose

A soft drink sweetened with 25% glucose and 75% fructose

The tests were random and blinded.

The groups who drank the beverages containing fructose gained more fat at a quicker rate than the glucose group.
We have to remember that the participants in this study were young, healthy and lean.

Therefore it is fair to surmise that people who are less healthy, not as lean and maybe older maybe pre-disposed to even easier fat gain and other health related issues.Read the rest of this entry »

cookies benefit breast milk

Who would’ve thought that “The Health People” might advocate the consumption of cookies, huh?Ok there’s a slight catch, these aren’t ordinary cookies, they are enriched with CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid).

As a result of eating these enriched cookies, researchers found these healthy fatty acids to be present in breast milk at a higher level (46% ~ higher) than those who only consumed normal biscuits.

The study aims to show how CLA supplementation can make its way into the breastmilk and therefore benefit the child – I think it’s fair to surmise that

CLA is a group of fatty acids that has potential anti-cancer and antioxidant effects.

The study doesn’t show where you can buy these biscuits though!

Maybe you could get a CLA pill and put it in between two cookies, somewhat like a sandwich?!

Or on the other hand, just get rid of the biscuits and take the supplement by itself – yeah…that makes more sense!

Grandes Ecoles: For whom the bell tolls? It tolls for thee.

Writing about health issues also means thinking about how people learn — we all want our health professionals to be highly trained and educated. We are also generally mindful that talent should prevail over privilege. Such appears to be an issue for President Nicholas Sarkozy of France and the elitist Grandes Ecoles that enable the French elite to reproduce their status and privilege.

It is with some disgust that one learns that these institutions of knowledge are fearful that their standards would decline if they admitted people from poorer social backgrounds, and this in the land of equality and fratnernity — perhaps these institutions need a history lesson.

It is a tired and dated rhetoric that income and social background should be determinants of future success. That such institutions in a country with such a commitment to intellectual debate should be fearful tells us more about them, than about France, itself.

As institutions funded from public sources, perhaps even more generously than the underfunded French universities, this should bestow upon them an even greater public duty to find the best and brightest in the land.

Le Monde is undoubtedly right when they say the Grandes Ecoles have had their day. Whether it is right to merge them with weakly performing universities may not be as wise, but redefining their admission practices to better help France meet the needs of the 21st Century would seem to be a priority.

This can be accomplished. The evidence from highly selective institutions of higher learning is to be blind to social factors and sharp-eyed for the bright and talented. Perhaps the continuing decline of much of value in France comes from its ossified system of higher education, which rewards the status quo, and discourages innovation — didn’t someone say the French don’t have a word for ‘entrepreneur’?

I weep not for those who covet privilege. In the end, it is worthless currency and those who seek it will become objects of ridicule. I can hear the bells now.

POM Wonderful

So I guess you must’ve seen the massive ad campaign being conducted by the ‘POM Wonderful’ company, especially here in the UK, if not, where have you been?! To my knowledge, the drink is not new, it has been around for quite some time now, so why such a big campaign? No idea.

What is ‘POM Wonderful’? Simply…a pomegranate juice drink!

You’re probably wondering why I am writing about this drink?

Well, firstly beause it is a relevant topic to the site and secondly because I was contacted a few weeks ago by ‘POM Wonderful’ and kindly offered two free bottles to try for free!

Omega-3 Diet Linked to Lower Heart Disease Risk

In yet another study showing the benefits of consuming foods high in Omega-3, Akira Sekikawa (MD) and colleagues found that rather than genetic factors contributing to the lower heart disease risk in Japan’s population, the actual Omega-3 content of Japanese diets may be responsible instead.

The study, cited in the August edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, involved 281 men living in Japan, 306 Caucasian American men and 281 Japanese-American men living in Hawaii.

The researchers conducted blood tests to measure total fatty acids and Omega-3 fatty acids.

Although the total fatty acid levels were similar amongst all three groups, the amount of fatty acids from fish consumption was twice as high among the Japanese men group as compared to both American groups.

The study also indicated that men living in Japan had significantly less atherosclerosis (plaque build up inside the arteries).

Dr. Sekikawa concluded that increasing the intake of Omega-3 fatty acids could “…have a very substantial impact on heart disease.”