Category: Weight Loss Exercise

Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Trans Fats banned in New York City restaurants

I wrote a bit a couple of weeks ago about Trans fats and the fact that New York city was going to be perhaps banning trans fats in restaurants. Well it has happened. I just saw the news break and that means that today there will be stories in the news all about What trans fats are, how they are bad for us, and how much we should consume. I hope that you remember that past article as it seems that there is not healthy amount of trans fats to consume so any amount is to much. It will be interesting to see what happens now as I once heard that there are 20 or so Macdonalds restaurants in Manhattan itself let alone the other outlying boroughs.

As you probably remember trans fats are create by making hydrogenated vegetable oil, that is pumping hydrogen through Vegetable oil to give it a longer shelf life and

The Board of Health has voted to make New York the first city in the nation to ban artificial trans fats in restaurant food. The board is expected to give restaurants a slight break by relaxing what had been considered a tight deadline for compliance.

The board also ordered restaurants to standardize how they display the number of calories in dishes on their menus in an effort to combat obesity. This means that perhaps we will start to get better information on fat and calorie contents of foods everywhere so that we can make better decisions than just picking the “healthy Choice menu item at the local restaurant.

Here is a graph from the Associated Press showing some trans fat facts:

Trans Fats banned in New York City restaurants

Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Conjugated linoleic acid and loss

I was heartened by this story that has been running for a couple of weeks but the University of Guelph did a very small study that found that Conjugated linoleic acid can help weight loss. I for one am hoping that we see more bigger studies to show us more about htis popular supplement as there are also some decent reports of the antioxidant properties of Conjugated linoleic acid.

The popular supplement CLA helped over adults burn fat, even through the holiday season, says a study by American and Canadian researchers.

The six-month study included 40 over people, mainly women, who were divided into two groups. One group took a daily supplement of CLA while the other group took a placebo, CBC News reported.

Over the course of the study, the people in the CLA group lost an average of 2.2 pounds of fat and tended to lose fat from the abdomen. This type of fat is believed to increase the risk of heart disease. In contrast, the participants in the placebo group gained an average of 1.5 pounds in November and December alone.

“Despite no differences between the CLA and placebo group with regards to calorie intake or physical activity throughout the study, the CLA group still managed to lose prior to the holiday season and didn’t gain any over the holidays,” said study author Andrea Buchholz, professor of applied nutrition at the University of Guelph in Canada.

The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity.

CLA is a form of naturally occurring polyunsaturated fat found in meat and dairy products. CLA supplements are available in health-food stores and pharmacies. While animal studies have suggested that CLA helps burn existing fat and impedes proliferation of new fat cells, previous research in humans has yielded inconsistent findings, CBC News reported.

Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Planning your Christmas day eating and exercise

Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite eating days of the year. Christmas dinner is now only a couple of days away and the Turkeys and Hams have already been bought and are waiting to be eaten. Every year I get up early on Christmas morning and eat and drink my way through the day and end up feeling boated and a little off by the end of the day.

I have thought about how best to get through the day and have the following tips. Remember that so much about Christmas is about lounging around and visiting with family and friends and this year if you plan to be moving a bit you may feel a lot better for it as you sit down to eat that big delicious meal. I have tried to put all of these ideas in order so that it is a bit easier to follow.

1. Decide what you are going to eat during the day is morning. Think about 3 meals and 3 snacks. No one says you can’t have a snack, then dinner a while later and then desert a while after that.

2. Get some exercise right after you get out of bed. Well we may have a little bit of a problem with this as the two little ones are going to want to eat presents right away and they will dictate the first hour or so. But after that if you can get the blood flowing is would be great. This will help you focus on your fitness and make you aware of how your body feels that day.

3. Drink lots of water throughout Christmas day starting in the morning. We all know how important it is to drink water and to stay hydrated. Also the Water will keep your body from feeling hungry throughout the day and let you feel a little fuller.

4. Eat a small breakfast to set up a slow eating day. Maybe some All Bran or something else filling would be good. I like to load up on the fruit if I know that I am going to have a busy day out and about as I know I will not get a chance to eat fruit later and it makes your breakfast a lot more interesting, colorful, and better.