While counting calories and incorporating exercise into your routine may help with short-term weight loss, researchers are finding these remedies do not contribute to long-term weight loss. “We intuitively know that ‘eat less exercise more’ doesn’t work. It’s such simple advice that if it worked, my colleagues and I would be out of job,” says Dr. David Ludwig, director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. “The uncomfortable fact is that an exceedingly small number of people can lose a substantial amount of weight and keep it off following that advice” (TIME).
According to Dr. Ludwig and his colleague, Dr. Mark L. Friedman, weight loss should not be viewed as something separate from biological functions and the effects of what kinds of food are consumed. “‘Instead of counting calories, we should be focusing on the quality of the food we consume,’ says Ludwig” (TIME). At Medical Metabolic Specialists, this research is core to our practice. As an obesity medicine specialist, Dr. James Hendrick focuses on the prevention and treatment of obesity and its associated conditions. His goal is to help patients understand their obstacles and manage their metabolism to help them lose weight. Unlike traditional weight loss clinics you see advertised, our comprehensive approach addresses the important issues of behavior, nutrition, emotion, disease, and medication along with how they relate to your weight. We don’t just tell patients to exercise and count calories, but rather we use the latest scientific techniques to create a comprehensive, individualized, lifelong weight management program to improve overall health and happiness. If you are ready to start your journey to long-term weight loss, contact us to begin your individualized assessment Did you know “stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of disability? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American adults eat on average only 1.1 fruits and 1.6 vegetables a day – less than half of the daily recommended intake” (ABC News).
You may want to reconsider your fruit and vegetable intake because, according to research, fruit every day may decrease the risk of stroke by almost one third. Do you include chickpeas, lentils or peas in your daily diet? If not, you may want to reconsider. The Canadian Medial Association Journal suggests, “Daily consumption of non-oil-seed legumes can significantly reduce ‘bad cholesterol’ and cut the risk of heart disease.” The Huffington Post also reports, in 26 randomized-controlled studies of 1,037 people, researchers found LDL cholesterol levels decreased by 5 percent in those who consumed one daily serving of legumes. This change in cholesterol was seen after six weeks. A 5 percent reduction in LDL cholesterol can suggest a lower risk of heart disease according to research presented in HealthDay. In general, researchers are finding legume consumption can prove beneficial to health. If lentils or peas are not part of your daily diet, consider adding a handful to your next salad or soup. Peas can also make a great side dish for dinner. Eat up! According to NBC News, a decade long study involving almost 60,000 middle-aged women shows that “after just nine years…8.5 percent of the women who drank two or more diet drinks a day had some sort of heart disease.” The average age in this study was 62 years old.
The Huffington Post also reported “women who consumed two or more diet drinks daily were not only 30 percent more likely to suffer heart attacks and strokes, they were 50 percent more likely to die from some sort of cardiovascular disease, when compared with women who never or rarely drank diet drinks.” These are not the only sources that have spoken out about the danger of diet drinks for postmenopausal women. HealthDay recently released information about diet drinks being linked to blood clots (among other diseases), and articles about this study are published in both Reuters and MedPage Today. While further research is still being conducted in the connection between diet drinks and heart risk in women, consider swapping out any artificially sweetened beverages for healthy alternatives such as water or tea. Seven out of ten Americans consume at least that much sugar, if not more. The more you consume, the higher your chance of death becomes. Those with the highest consumption, more than 25% of calories from sugar, have a nearly 300% greater risk of cardiovascular death than those consuming less than 10% of calories from added sugar. On February 3 an analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys data was published online in JAMA Internal Medicine. The analysis showed “that people in the study who consumed 17%-21% of their daily calories from sugar – the second-highest category of sugar consumption – showed a nearly 40% higher risk of cardiovascular disease death than did those who consumed less than 10% of their daily calories from sugar. People in the highest category of sugar consumption, who consumed 21% or more of daily calories from sugar, doubled their risk of cardiovascular disease death.”
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MMSMedical Metabolic Specialists, located in Fort Collins, Colorado, is dedicated to using the latest scientific techniques to create a comprehensive, individualized. lifelong weight management program to improve your overall health. Archives
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