Your Brain on Sugar

Excerpt from a Marie Clare article by Joanne Chen published 6/19

Is sugar worse for you than, say, cocaine? According to a 2012 article in the journal Nature, it's a toxic substance that should be regulated like tobacco and alcohol.

Researchers point to studies that show that too much sugar (both in the form of natural sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup) not only makes us fat, it also wreaks havoc on our liver, mucks up our metabolism, impairs brain function, and may leave us susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, even cancer.

80 percent of our food choices contain sugar. When tasting sugar, the brain lights up in the same regions as it would in an alcoholic with a bottle of gin. Dopamine—the so-called reward chemical—spikes and reinforces the desire to have more. (Sugar also fuels the calming hormone serotonin.)

Here, the most common sugar-induced issues. Click on the article to read more and get a handle on  how to beat them to prevent long-term damage—and feel your best right now.

STRESS EATING 

INEXPLICABLE WEIGHT GAIN

BRAIN FOG

AGING SKIN

A SLUGGISH WORKOUT

A pleasant meal setting may make you eat less

Excerpts from a Miami Herald article published 9/18/12 written by Sheah Rarback 

In the past Brian Wansink Cornell University researcher has done research to find the following:

• Bigger portions lead to greater consumption
• Visual cues stimulate food intake
• Drinking fine wine with food increases satisfaction with the entire meal.

The focus of his latest research was the impact of white tablecloths and mood lighting on diners at fast-food restaurants, and the results were surprising.

Diners in a higher-end environment take more time to eat, as expected, but, surprisingly, ate less. They left more food on their plates, consuming an average of 133 fewer calories. 

These were not the expected results. Usually, a slower meal translates to more calories. Interviews with the diners indicated that as they slowly ate, the food tended to lose its appeal and they stopped eating. 

Sheah Rarback is a registered dietitian on the faculty of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/18/3008482/a-pleasant-meal-setting-may-make.html#storylink=cpy

Eat your fruits & veggies

Excerpts from an 9/18/12 LA Times article written by Mary Macvean published in the Miami Herald. 

 

Adding more produce to your diet helps post-menopausal women lose weight in the long run, study finds

Some new research tried to figure out what might help post-menopausal women achieve long-term weight loss. And it turns out that adding produce to their diet didn’t show up as especially helpful in the short term, but in the long term it mattered.

Some behaviors are hard to maintain forever, and adding produce might be easier than avoiding all fried foods for the long haul.

Bethany Barone Gibbs, the lead investigator, said “Eating fruits and vegetables may not make as big a difference in your caloric intake. But that small change can build up and give you a better long-term result, because it’s not as hard to do as giving up French fries forever.”

The study, published last week in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, looked at overweight post-menopausal women.

Barone Gibbs, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh department of health and physical activity, said several factors work against long-term weight loss.

“Not only does motivation decrease after you start losing weight, there are physiological changes, including a decreased resting metabolic rate. Appetite-related hormones increase. Researchers studying the brain are now finding that you have enhanced rewards and increased motivation to eat when you’ve lost weight,” she says.

“If the goal is to decrease the burden of obesity, the focus must be on long-term strategies because changes in eating behaviors only associated with short-term weight loss are likely ineffective and/or not sustainable,”researchers wrote.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/18/3008472/eat-your-fruits-veggies.html#storylink=cpy

Uniq Fruit - things to know

Uniq Fruit on the tree in Jamaica

Buying a Uniq Fruit is easy. The loose, bumpy and somewhat mottled coloring skin is thick which has got to help keep the inside juicy with a great citrusy taste. The fruit is picked ready to eat, so no need to leave it out on the counter like other tropicals. Left out on the counter, it will stay ready-to-eat for up to 12 days. In the refrigerator, quite a bit longer. I've kept Uniq Fruit up to a month in my veggie drawer in the frig.


This fruit is great as an ingredient in salads. If you use it like a grapefruit, you may find yourself no longer buying grapefruit. Uniq Fruit's hint of tangerine makes it the favorite.


Considered an excellent source of vitamin C and fiber, Uniq Fruit contains fewer than 40 calories, about the same as grapefruit.