Research

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Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss April 18, 2019

Research: Cloves may inhibit fat deposition and lower insulin resistance

Cloves may reduce both fat deposition and insulin resistance.

Clove is one of the many key spices used in Indian cuisine.  It is also found in many seasonal recipes in the United States.  I love adding a dash to my eggnog.  A little dab of ground clove goes a long way to maximizing the taste it adds to any recipe.  For years, it has also been recommended as a potential remedy for multiple ailments to include diabetes and obesity.  Beyond the great flavor, many of these health claims are poorly supported by research.  

 
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Research, Weight Loss April 17, 2019

Research: An evaluation of a commercial weight loss program on weight and body circumference

Nutrisystem® may show promise at reducing weight and body circumference

Few if any commercial weight loss programs have research to back up their use for short or long term weight loss.   Commercial diet plans are readily available to the most weight conscious consumer, but their cost may not be worth the investment because the evidence on their effectiveness for promoting weight loss is lacking.  There is some evidence to support the use of portion-controlled diets such as Nutrisystem ®.

 
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Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss April 16, 2019

Research: Caraway may reduce appetite

Caraway may promote satiety.

Spices can make your food taste better.  If your food tastes better, it might promote satiety.   Caraway seeds have a pungent flavor that comes from the compounds that make it unique.   Caraway is used to flavor bread, rice, and many sausages.  Caraway seeds taste great, but could they weight loss and reduce body weight through increased satiety.  

 
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Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss April 11, 2019

Research: Can lemon water assist weight loss?

Lemon water may help with weight loss.  

Lemons are often promoted as a magical weight loss food that will help the drinker lose weight with no addition of any other activities or changes to your diet.  It sounds like a bridge too far.  I discussed lemons water and the research behind it over a year ago.  There are a few theories as to why lemons may help with weight loss, and we will discuss them and whether they are true.  

 
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Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss April 10, 2019

Research: Commercial weight-loss programs are ineffective for meaningful weight loss

Most dieters fail to achieve meaningful weight loss on commercial programs

You have seen the ads for Nutrisystems with multiple stars claiming to lose the weight with their packages meals with minimal to no effort.  Despite popular belief, most of the commercial weight loss programs are somewhat less effective than the ads will make you believe.  The actors are paid for their endorsement and attempt to use the products, and I suspect even Dan Marino achieved weight loss with additional help that just the products he is peddling.

 
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Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss April 9, 2019

Research: Alcohol increases the intake of junk food.

Drinking alcohol increases grazing for junk food.  

We have all had a night of debauchery in our youth where we spent the night out with friends hopping from bar to bar followed by a less than a healthy meal.  Anecdotally, we know that drinking increase poor food choices.  It just makes sense that sense that alcohol, which suppresses frontal lobe inhibition, would increase eating less healthy food choices and more yummy but unhealthy calorie-dense junk food.  We suspect this is true based on experience, but today we have research proof.    

 
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Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss April 4, 2019

Research: Does counting calories help with successful weight loss?

Counting calories may help with weight loss.

Many models of weight loss have been deemed successful; however, maintenance continues to remain a challenge.  Counting calories has been a long-standing suggested method of losing weight and keeping it off.   It has been long proposed as a self-monitoring method and it is considered an important behavior in both weight loss and maintenance of weight loss.  Many commercial diets used it as a method to monitor food caloric intake.  

 
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Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss April 3, 2019

Research: Reducing carbohydrates can help you maintain weight

Is eating fewer carbohydrates the solution in your quest to lose weight?

A low-carbohydrate or low-carb diet is a dietary plan that restricts carbohydrates.  Carbohydrates are found in food such as bread, cereals, grains, pasta, potatoes, and rice.  A low carbo is higher in protein and fat.  There are several different types of low-carb diets.  Some replace the carbohydrates with fat and others primarily replace it with protein.   

 
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Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss April 2, 2019

Research: Walnut supplementation assists weight loss.

Walnuts may help you lose weight and make better food choices.  

Gaining weight is complicated, but it is not less complicated than losing it.  Weight gain is a consequence of total energy intake.  It is an imbalance between what we eat and burn during our lives.  If we burn more, we lose weight, and if we burn too little, we gain weight.  It is simple in concept yet complex in reality.  At the population level, consuming foods, such as nuts, would appear to be inversely associated with increasing weight because they are very dense in calories.  The reasons for the difference are unclear, but they could be examined in the context of dietary advice for weight loss.

 
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Research, Weight Loss March 28, 2019

Research: Do smart scales work for weight loss?

Smart scales can help improve weight loss.  

I have long been told that frequent weighing is not helpful for weight loss.  I have written several articles on scales, but to this date, I have not found one on the use of smart scales.  Prior studies have shown that frequent trips to the scale can help maintain a healthy weight and prevent weight gain.  I also wrote an article on the myth that self-weighing too often can cause diet failure.  Frequent self-weighing is a low-intensity strategy that can easily be molded into your daily schedule and has been shown prior research to be associated with improved weight loss and weight maintenance in adults.

 
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