Nutrition

Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss August 3, 2019

List: 12 Herbs and Spices That Will Help With Weight Loss

Herbs and spices may be the key to your weight loss success.  

Spices can do more than perk up the flavor of a meal.  We are constantly looking for alternatives to medications to help with improving our health.  You may be able to reach for the bottles in your spice cabinet for assistance with everything from diabetes to your waistline.  One of the largest obstacles to being healthy in the world today is central obesity.  Obesity is an increasingly social and medical problem all over the world.  This excessive fat deposition in waistlines is a huge risk factor for multiple diseases that go much further than just being overweight.  In some counties of the world, over two-thirds of the population is overweight or obese and the number continues to grow almost as much as the average belt size.  

 
Research Definition

Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss July 23, 2019

Research: Fiber and energy density and the effects on weight loss.

Diets with a lower fiber intake and caloric density appear superior for weight loss. 

Little is known about the effects of a low caloric density diets on weight loss and maintenance.  It makes sense that a diet that is lower in calories and higher in fiber will result in weight loss because lower density should result in lower calories per volume eaten.   Diets are often designed to meet prescribed macronutrient targets.  An example would be a high-protein diet which often suggests a protein intake of over 40%.   The question persists as to whether individuals can actually achieve the specified levels and if they will result in weight loss.  

 
research

Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss July 16, 2019

Research: Better quality of carbohydrates leads to better outcomes

Clinical outcomes: It is all about the quality of your carbohydrate intake.  

Clinicians and researchers have long suspected that not all carbohydrates are created equal.  It makes perfect sense that an unprocessed starchy food with 100 calories would not result in similar clinical outcomes as the same number of calories of table sugar.  The whole foods that are less processed should be more abundant in fiber and thus take longer to process by our bodies and result in less of an insulin and blood sugar spike.  The big problem is that there is a limited appetite to research such differences and thus there is little proof to back up such beliefs.