[susanpesek]

From Webmd.com:

[mommyofkassandcora]

Thanks Susan.. you are always on the up and up on all this dieting business!!!

[susanpesek]

...
Here are 10 diet myths Rosenbloom shattered at the conference, and Duyff's tips on telling diet fact from diet fiction.
Myth: Eating at night makes you fat.
Reality: Calories count, whenever you eat them.
There's no proof for this myth, Rosenbloom says. She notes some small studies with mixed results, tests on animals, and a belief that because eating breakfast is linked to lower BMI, eating at night isn't as good. But all in all, Rosenbloom says, it's your calorie total that matters, day or night.
Myth: Avoid foods with a high glycemic index.
Reality: You could use the glycemic index to adjust your food choices, but don't make it your sole strategy for losing weight or controlling blood sugar, Rosenbloom says.
"For those people that are already counting carbs, this can be a way for them to fine-tune their food choices, but it isn't the be-all, end-all for weight loss," she says.
Myth: High fructose corn syrup causes weight gain.
Reality: "There's probably nothing particularly evil about high fructose corn syrup, compared to regular old sugar," Rosenbloom says.
She explains that this diet myth arose in 2003, when researchers noticed that obesity was rising along with the use of high fructose corn syrup. "They speculated that ... maybe we handle [high fructose corn syrup] differently than we do sugar," but "there really isn't any evidence to support that," she says.
The American Medical Association recently concluded that high fructose corn syrup doesn't contribute to obesity beyond its calories.
Myth: Caffeine is unhealthy.
Reality: Rosenbloom says there is some evidence that caffeine may have a positive effect on some diseases, including gout and Parkinson's disease, besides caffeine's famous alertness buzz.
Also, caffeine doesn't dehydrate people who consume it regularly, Rosenbloom says.
But she cautions that caffeine isn't always listed on product labels, and children who drink a lot of caffeinated energy drinks may get more caffeine than their parents expect. "Kids tend to guzzle these things, whereas an adult may sip a beverage," Rosenbloom says.
Myth: The less fat you eat, the better.
Reality: "For some people, counting fat grams can work for weight control, but it isn't the be-all end-all for people," Rosenbloom says.
She says that people with heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome may benefit from adding a little healthy fat -- the monounsaturated kind -- and cutting back on carbohydrates. But they shouldn't increase their overall fat intake -- just swap saturated fat for monounsaturated fat.
"If you go out to an Italian restaurant and you have triple cheese-meat-sausage lasagna but then you have a little olive oil on your bread, you're not doing much for your heart," Rosenbloom says.
Myth: To eat less sodium, avoid salty-tasting foods and use sea salt in place of table salt.
Reality: Your sense of taste doesn't always notice sodium, and sea salt or other gourmet salts aren't healthier than table salt.
"Just because it doesn't taste salty doesn't mean that it isn't salty," Rosenbloom says. She says many processed foods contain a lot of sodium -- check the label.
....
Sea salt, Rosenbloom says, contains slightly less sodium per teaspoon than table salt only because sea salt is coarser, so fewer grains fit into the teaspoon.
Myth: Drinking more water daily will help you lose weight.
Reality: There's no evidence that water peels off pounds.
Foods containing water -- such as soup -- can fill you up, "but just drinking water alone doesn't have the same impact," Rosenbloom says. "Our thirst mechanism and our hunger mechanism are two different things."
Myth: Whole grains are always healthier than refined grains.
Reality: Whole grains are a healthy choice, but you needn't ditch refined grains.... refined grains with certain nutrients added (such as wheat enriched with folic acid, an important nutrient for preventing neural tube birth defects) -- have some perks.
"Enriched grains generally are going to have more folate, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and iron. The whole grains usually have more fiber, vitamin e, selenium, zinc, potassium -- so there's kind of a trade-off," Rosenbloom says.
Myth: Sugar causes behavioral problems in kids.
Reality: You might want to check your expectations about sugar and children's behavior.
For most children, "the excitement that kids have when supposedly they eat sugar is probably more related to the event and the excitement of the event than it is to actually consuming sugar," Rosenbloom says.

She cites research showing that when parents think their kids have been given sugar, they rate the children's behavior as more hyperactive -- even when no sugar is eaten.
Myth: Protein is the most important nutrient for athletes.
Reality: "It is true that athletes need more protein than sedentary people. They just don't need as much as they think. And they probably don't need it from supplements; they're probably getting plenty in their food," Rosenbloom says.
But timing matters. Rosenbloom recommends that after weight training, athletes consume a little bit of protein -- about 8 grams, the amount in a small carton of low-fat chocolate milk -- to help their muscles rebuild.
"That's probably all you need," she says. "You don't need four scoops of whey powder to get that amount of protein."
How to Spot a Diet Myth
New diet myths can crop up at any time; fads come and go. To Duyff, the task of telling nutrition myth from reality boils down to this: Step back, check out the evidence, and be a bit skeptical. Here is Duyff's specific advice:
· Look for red flags, such as promises that sound too good to be true or dramatic statements refuted by reputable health organizations.
· Think critically. Consider the "facts" touted in diet myths. Are they from biased or preliminary research? "One study doesn't make a fact," Duyff says. "The messages need to be evidence-based," which means multiple studies conducted in large groups of people and reviewed by independent scientists.
· Ask an expert. A registered dietitian or other health professional can help you tell nutritional fact from fiction.
· Remember, there are no magic bullets. "The true approach to good health includes an overall healthy eating pattern, enjoyed and followed over time," Duyff says.
...
© 2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

[sahmof4]

Thanks for the great info. It's always a pleasure to read anything you post because, it's always an interesting read.

ttyl c.c.

[susanpesek]

By Tracey Minkin ...
• The Structure House Weight Loss Plan (Fireside)
Don't recognize this plan? That's because for more than 30 years its author, Gerard J. Musante, PhD, has been working quietly and very successfully running the actual Structure House, a Durham, North Carolina-based residential treatment center for obese adults. That's a lot of time spent with patients and a lot of attention paid to the broad factors that affect weight loss -- particularly the relationship people have with food.
But can an excellent residential program transfer to an effective at-home plan? The answer, according to our experts (meet them at right), is a resounding "yes," which is how this below-the-radar plan grabbed highest honors from its better-known rivals.
...
• The Step Diet (Workman Publishing)
We all know that walking 10,000 steps a day can really make a huge difference healthwise. But now we also know that the diet inspired by this fundamental, healthy approach to movement and activity is a big winner. And it even comes with a pedometer, a device that studies have shown can be a huge motivator for staying active and losing weight.
...
The nutritional approach of the Step Diet, devised by weight-control experts from the University of Colorado, is profoundly simple: Cut food intake to 75 percent of what you currently eat. "This plan is for people who like things simple," nutrition expert Christine Palumbo says. "Simply cut back on what you normally eat." With suggestions (not hard-core regimens) for making healthy meals and a food diary for building mindfulness, this plan can work well for dieters who like to have daily control and choices.
Our panelists also noted that the cut in calories combined with the steady increase in activity can lead to a safe, healthy rate of weight loss and a naturally active lifestyle. "This is a doable, concrete approach to adding daily physical activity and losing pounds," dietitian and fitness expert Samantha Heller says.
• Weight Watchers
It's a classic for a reason. It works.
And over the years, this gold-standard weight-loss program that harnesses the power of group support to help motivate dieters has kept up with science, not to mention changing lifestyles. For this aspect, Weight Watchers earned the highest motivational marks (including several perfect scores) from our panel of experts, who also lauded the plan's overall healthy weight-loss pace and exercise component.
Most noteworthy: Weight Watchers, while maintaining its meetings-based system, has added an online version for those dieters who, in the words of panelist Largeman-Roth, "aren't into group hugs." ...
The first, Weight Watcher's famous points-based Flex Plan, which is packed with major education on making wise and healthy food choices, gets kudos for providing both motivation and a simple framework for success. The second, the Core Plan, focuses dieters on eating nutritious, satisfying foods--without counting calories.
The Weight Watchers program offers strategies that will work for every dieter. And the support specifically for men was a real bonus, as was the ability to get tasty, already-prepared (and points counted) meals at your local grocery store.
• The EatingWell Diet (The Countryman Press)
This new entry into the field in 2007 has built beautifully on the latest understanding of the broad approach necessary for effective weight loss. Author Jean Harvey-Berino, PhD, RD, developed the fundamentals of the EatingWell Diet at the University of Vermont, where she chairs the department of nutrition and food science. The focus on behavioral changes--including finding and facing eating triggers, eating and shopping mindfully, and cultivating regular, joyful exercise habits--combined with a 28-day mix-and-match menus gained the highest overall rankings on calorie-intake and weight-loss-rate criteria from our panelists. Health.com: Reviews of more than 40 popular diets
"Hallelujah," says registered dietitian Maureen Callahan. "Here's a diet plan that tells the truth about weight loss. Dieters lose about 21 pounds in six months, or about a pound a week. This kind of steady weight loss is the real thing, the kind that stays off." Another nifty extra: a Diet Food Diary that includes a calorie-count chart.
• The Volumetrics Eating Plan (Harper Collins)
Nutritionist Barbara Rolls, PhD, has tapped into a fundamental human quality: We like to feel full. This may sound obvious, but it's based, in fact, on extensive work Rolls has done as director of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Pennsylvania State University. Rolls says you'll eat better and lose weight if you focus on the energy density of foods. And her Volumetrics plan explains how low-density foods like fruits and vegetables, as well as soups and stews, fill you up without overloading you with calories.
This diet scored highest for its safe weight-loss-rate and nutritional components because it's "based on sound nutrition principles and overall healthy food choices," judge Samantha Heller says. And our panelists found the plan's 150-plus recipes appealing. Another plus, judge Christine Palumbo says, is Volumetric's creative approach of showing photos of low- and high-density foods side by side -- a simple way to help dieters visualize good choices.
Though exercise plays a secondary role in the Volumetrics plan, it is required. And a guide for logging 30 to 60 minutes of daily activity provides motivation. ....
• The Best Life Diet (Simon & Schuster)
Bob Greene is forever linked with superstar (and dieter) Oprah Winfrey. And his high-profile guide, which offers a sane, healthy approach to overall lifestyle changes, earned consistently high marks from our experts. Roshini Rajapaksa, MD, ...Best Life has three phases that each dieter is encouraged to embark upon at his or her own pace, a strategy that leads to slimming, nutritional eating and increased physical activity. Dietitian Christine Palumbo gave this staged approach a perfect 10: "For people who like to ease into lifestyle changes in order to get used to them oh-so-gradually," she says, "this is a good bet."
...
• The Solution (Collins)
"This program excels at helping people figure out why they're overeating," Callahan says, "and that's what's going to keep the weight off." Squarely facing the emotional and behavioral underpinnings of overeating, dietitian Laurel Mellin's method is based on The Shapedown Program, a successful weight-management plan she created for overweight children and adolescents in the late 1970s. Mellin views obesity not so much in terms of diet and exercise but as another expression of the interaction of mind, body, and lifestyle. And The Solution, designed for dieters of all ages, targets five root causes of weight problems: unbalanced eating, low energy, body shame, setting ineffective limits, and weak self-nurturing skills.
The food aspects of this program center on four "light" lists--grains, proteins, milk foods, and fruit and vegetables. And Mellin's guidelines and food suggestions got high marks on healthy balance from our panelists. ... And Palumbo awarded it a hat-trick of perfect 10s in all nutritional aspects.
• You: On a Diet (Free Press)
"No wonder Dr. Oz is Oprah's favorite doctor!" Palumbo raves, hailing the friendly diet book that is the centerpiece of the "You" docs Mehmet C. Oz and Michael F. Roizen's mini-empire of healthy lifestyle guides and products (including a very interactive Web site). This diet, Palumbo adds, "teaches and motivates about weight (and waist) loss with a sense of good humor and fun."
Indeed, the book offers a lot of education amidst the menu plans, which include recipes for Stuffed Whole Wheat Pizza, Grilled Peanut Shrimp with Sesame Snow Peas, and Sweet Beet and Gorgonzola Salad. ...The weight-loss trajectory centers on cutting about 500 calories per day, and panelists liked the easy calculations that help readers figure out their own calorie needs.
Palumbo also credited the plan with adding to the healthy (but not terribly exciting) 30 minutes of daily walking some equally valuable recommendations of stretching, metabolism boosting, muscle building, and strength training. ...
• The Sonoma Diet (Meredith Books)
There's an undercurrent of celebration in this best-selling diet that continues to inspire with delicious recipes using staples of Mediterranean eating: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, fish, and nuts.
Dietitian and PhD Connie Guttersen's plan opens with a strident 10-day jump-start phase called "Wave One," designed to purge habits of eating sugar and highly processed foods, which judges Maureen Callahan and Samantha Heller caution may be a little too calorie-restrictive for some beginning dieters. But subsequent phases--active weight loss and maintenance--garnered high marks from our panel. Exercise is encouraged but not actively prescribed, a missed opportunity in the minds of several judges.
Overall, our panelists loved the creative recipes and menus. And they applauded the plate-and-bowl approach to portion control, a hallmark of long-term, sustainable eating habits. "This diet teaches you to eat slowly and savor your meals," judge Palumbo says.
• The Spectrum (Ballantine)
Famous in the 1990s for advocating a program to combat heart disease, Dr. Dean Ornish, MD, has been criticized for prescribing nutritional edicts that are just too hard to sustain. The Spectrum, Ornish's newest diet, both broadens and softens his program by moving along four separate paths to health--nutrition, exercise, stress management, and personal relationships.
Our panelists liked the plan's holistic approach, particularly rewarding its counsel on reducing stress and giving it high marks for including a meditation DVD with the book. And our nutrition judges were glad to see that Ornish has tempered his tough stance on fats to a more sustainable level, but one panelist feels he's still too strict. "There's no reason not to eat nuts, seeds, and avocados; use maple syrup and honey; or have a glass of wine, periodically," panelist Heller says. She notes, though, that Ornish's whole-body approach, which includes a vegetarian lifestyle, stress management, and exercise, is on target in terms of health, disease prevention, and reaching a healthy weight.
Judge Palumbo awarded Ornish's plan some of her highest scores. "This 'diet' plan addresses the lifestyle diseases of the 21st century," she says, "such as diabetes, certain cancers, and cardiovascular disease. This book is ideal for people who are looking for an intelligent, thoughtful, science-based weight-loss program."

[mistyc]

You have the best information Love it! You live in Alabama what part I went to work in Decatur last year when I was sent by my company to hire employees that could not speak inglsh I speak two languages thats why it was a nice little town then I went to mobile dont remember because I drove there from here in Nashville to get someone and drive right back here I reached mobile at 1 in the moring thats why I dont remember take care

[susanpesek]

Thanks!
We live about 40 miles south of Birmingham in a small town, or what USED to be a small town!

Our son lived in Nashville and was a talent agent until he came back here for grad school. I still see doctors there at St. Thomas and Vanderbilt!

SMALL WORLD!

[susanpesek]

6 Diet Trends You Should Never Try


By Julie Upton, RD
It’s getting close to the New Year, when the vast majority of Americans resolve to lose weight.
But before you even think about starting a diet to drop pounds fast, I’ve compiled a list of the worst diets around so you won’t waste your time on them. This list isn’t just my opinion, either; I sought the help of registered dietitians who are members of the Weight Management Dietetic Practice group of the American Dietetic Association. Here are the nominees:
Raw Food Diet
Eating raw is based on trying to get the majority of your calories from unprocessed and uncooked foods. Rawists believe that eating foods above 116°–118° F will destroy enzymes that provide many health benefits. While most dietitians would agree that eating lots of minimally processed fruits, vegetables, and grains is best, we also understand that processing actually boosts the bioavailability of several key nutrients, primarily the phytonutrients, and inactivates some of the unhealthy compounds.
The raw food diet is rich in all plant-based foods including fruits and vegetables; nuts and seeds; and sprouted seeds, grains, and beans. Don’t get me wrong; these ingredients are great—and you can make plenty of meals (here are five delicious ones) using these guidelines. But following this type of diet to a T requires a lot of complicated food preparation—creating pine nut and yeast “cheese,” for example—that makes it impractical for most working women.
I have had plenty of experience with raw foods because I live in Marin County, Calif., where Roxanne Klein, the coauthor of Raw, started Roxanne’s Fine Cuisine, a line of pricey prepared raw food creations available at our Whole Foods and other high-end supermarkets. I’ve tried several of the items but have found them to be extremely expensive and not very tasty—certainly nothing I could follow for more than a day or two at most.
As a “flexitarian” and part-time vegan, I know that eating lower on the food chain can help promote weight loss, but I also know that caloric content is not related to the heated treatment of food. Skip the raw food diet, and eat more healthful whole foods—cooked or raw—to help whittle your waist, not your wallet.
hCG Diet
The hCG diet is a very low-calorie plan (500 to 800 calories per day) supplemented with injections of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Any diet that drops below 1,000 calories is really unsafe for most of us to begin with, and you’re apt to lose a lot of weight even if you’re getting injected with milk shakes. Of course, the golden rule of dieting is that the faster it comes off, the more likely you are to regain it, so this diet would be on my list no matter what…but the hCG shots raise so many red flags I don’t know where to begin. Bottom line: Scientists don’t know if hCG is safe to inject when you’re not producing it naturally, so please don’t be a weight-loss guinea pig.
Master Cleanse
In southern California, this is a big trend. Dieters are trying the “cleanse” by drinking a concoction of squeezed lemons, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper several times a day for 10 days, says Karla Campbell, MS, RD, a dietitian in Long Beach, Calif. Then they down an herbal laxative tea at night and a quart of salt water first thing in the morning, supposedly to clean out the GI tract and bowels. Needless to say, there are no studies to suggest that our GI tracts and organs need any help in removing waste or so-called toxins from the body.
The diet is only 650–1,300 calories, and it lacks key nutrients like protein, calcium, iron, and zinc—so no dietitian recommends doing it for more than a day or two. Campbell also adds this warning: “Dieters who try it end up losing lean body mass, and then when they are ‘cleansed’ and go back to their old ways, they gain fat. They end up being a fatter version of their old selves.” Read more about the safety of detox diets.
Cabbage Soup Diet (and all of its single-food-diet cousins)
Contrary to rumors, this diet is not recommended by, nor did it originate with, the American Heart Association (AHA); the Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital, in Spokane, Wash.; or any other health organization. In fact, AHA and others have made it known that you should steer clear of this fad diet.
While there are several versions of the diet, all have a seven-day cycle based on all-you-can-eat “fat-burning” cabbage soup (a mix of cabbage, carrots, celery, tomatoes, peppers, and onions).
Since the diet provides plenty of liquids and nutrient-packed veggies, it’s not as bad as many other fad diets. However, if you enjoy food at all or have a life, you won’t be able to stay on any diet that restricts food groups or relies on one or two superfoods for very long. And then you’ll be back where you started right after you go off it.
Ear Stapling
This relatively new fad is based on a theory among acupuncturists that an area of the ear regulates your appetite. The procedure is like getting an ear pierced, but the constant pressure of the staple on the “stomach” of your ear is supposed to curtail your eating.
Fat chance. There is no science behind ear stapling for weight loss, but there is plenty of evidence that stapling could lead to serious infections and deformities. If you need help in controlling your appetite, better to try something that really works, like eating more fruits and vegetables and less of everything else.
Breatharian Diet
This one takes the cake. (Oh, but only if it did.) It’s a diet that promotes living on air alone, no food or water. Hmm. That is pretty contrary to what I learned in undergraduate and graduate school while studying nutrition. I believe our bodies will only survive a few days without water and a few weeks without food.
The mumbo jumbo on this diet is that you align yourself to the universe and you won’t need water or food. You know what this sounds like to me? Starvation.
Next up: I’ll look at meal plans worth trying as we move into 2009. Happy holidays, and let’s all be thankful there’s no such thing (yet) as the Christmas Cookie Diet.