Tag: fuel

I eat fat-free and low-fat yogurt several times a week. I usually choose plain Greek yogurt that I sweeten with local honey, but occasionally I have the black cherry flavor. For years, the accepted recommendation for healthy dairy products in your diet has been low-fat or fat-free products. The rationale has been that these lower fat dairy products, including yogurt, have fewer calories and less fat than their regular counterparts.

Makes sense, right?

Well, like so many other assumptions made about nutrition over the years, this particular long established assumption is being questioned.

(And as an aside, I don’t know about you, but sometimes it is hard to know what to eat because the right foods [according to scientists] keep changing.)

A new study done by researchers at Tufts University examined whether the current USDA recommendations to consume low-fat and fat-free dairy products impact how many carbs people ate and whether their choice impacted their weight and overall health.

I was interested enough to look up the study and read through it. Although some of it is pretty dry, the conclusion is anything but boring.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, looked at previous research in which over 120,000 health professionals had been followed as part of three different longitudinal studies over a 16 year period.

This study is impressive for several reasons:

1) The sample size is very large.

2) The study time was long.

3) Researchers did not make blanket statements about carbs.

The researchers analyzed the participants’ eating habits and discovered the people who ate the fewest carbs were the ones who ate full-fat dairy products such as yogurt. Jessica Smith, Ph.D., one of the researchers, indicated in an interview with Science Daily that people who consistently eat low-fat or fat-free dairy products might unconsciously attempt to make up for the lack of fat in their diet by eating more carbs.

Although not explicitly part of the study material, the implication is that the types of carbs people typically reach for is not brown rice or quinoa. Instead, they’ll typically go for carbs in things like cupcakes, chips, and other foods filled with simple carbohydrates and little nutrients.

When I was severely overweight, I often ate low-fat or fat-free dairy products and I did eat a ton of carbs. I’m not sure there was a correlation, but perhaps the lack of fat in those dairy products did somewhat increase my cravings for carbs.

In my 17 years of being part of the weight loss arena, I have seen people who eat the wrong kinds of carbs and suffer for it. I have also seen people who eat healthy carbs and benefit from it.

It seems to me the takeaway from this article is that it may be a good thing to stop automatically reaching for the lowest fat yogurt and choose the full-fat version as a way to control your urge to binge on unhealthy carbs.  

You don’t have anything to lose by trying it for a week or two and see if your carb cravings start to go away.

In case you were wondering about calories, the calorie difference in the two types of yogurt is negligible. A fat-free container of plain yogurt has 94 calories in 6 ounces while a full-fat container has 104 calories, according to the USDA National Nutrient Database.

Will I switch? I’m not sure. I do eat full-fat cottage cheese, sour cream, and cheeses but I really do like my fat-free Greek yogurt.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I can’t stand coffee. But I’ve seen the research, and whether I choose to partake or not (and I don’t), there are a number of health advantages to drinking coffee. As with most things in life, however, timing is important. Millions of people around the world start their day with a cup of java. But despite its many benefits, drinking coffee (even decaf) on an empty stomach can cause (or aggravate) a number of health problems.
Most of those problems start off in the intestines and digestive tract, but their effects go far beyond the stomach.

Gastrointestinal Issues

There’s hydrochloric acid in our stomachs, which we need to digest our food. But coffee kicks hydrochloric acid production into overdrive, especially when there’s no food in the stomach to cushion the blow. If that happens often enough, the body may gradually lose interest in producing hydrochloric acid on its own. As a result, digestion slows down. Certain bacteria in our guts love to gorge on undigested proteins and other food, and when they do, they gleefully produce hydrogen sulfide (the same stuff that gives rotten eggs their lovely smell), which in turn produces some pretty nasty farts.
But farting is only the beginning. As stomach acids increase, so does the likelihood of developing heartburn, indigestion, and irritation to the intestines. If that goes on for long enough, it can lead to acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, and ulcers.
In case you were wondering, caffeine is not the culprit here (other sources of caffeine don’t produce the effects I just mentioned). In fact, studies on the gastrointestinal effects of coffee have found that decaf is actually worse than regular coffee. There are a number of other compounds in coffee—various acids, enzymes, and oils—that can do the real damage.

Nutritional Problems

A study done at Yokohama City University School of Medicine in Japan found that coffee facilitates what’s euphemistically called “gastric emptying,” meaning that it gets food out of your stomach more quickly than it would on its own. When food doesn’t spend as much time in your intestines as it should, vitamins and minerals don’t get absorbed properly, possibly leaving us with nutritional deficiencies. Again, it’s not just the caffeine; decaf is at least as bad.
There is one area, however, where caffeine plays a role. It speeds up the process of getting liquids out of the body by flushing them through the kidneys, causing frequent trips to the bathroom. That doesn’t give the kidneys enough time to absorb calcium, magnesium, zinc, or other important minerals. Magnesium is especially a problem, because according to some estimates, only 20 to 25 percent of Americans are getting anywhere near enough of it. Magnesium deficiency has been clinically associated with a wide variety of negative health conditions, including anxiety and depression (more on that below), asthma, blood clots, heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, migraines, infertility, osteoporosis, and even tooth decay.

Anxiety and Depression

People who “need” their coffee first thing in the morning are drinking up because they want the jolt of caffeine. But caffeine also increases anxiety and depression in a number of ways.

• It can boost levels of the stress hormones cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine.
• It interrupts the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that’s associated with senses of calm and well-being. Some of the most popular antidepressants (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and others) are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which work by keeping serotonin levels in the brain high.
• It messes with levels of another important chemical, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is associated with calming and lowered stress levels.
• It accelerates secretion of B vitamins and interferes with absorption of what’s left. B vitamins are extremely important for mood regulation, relaxation, and stress management.

Bottom line

If you need something to get you going first thing in the morning, consider something other than coffee—especially if you have a history of any stomach or gastrointestinal problems.

Most sodas are a carbonated cocktail of additives and chemicals mixed together to trick your taste buds into thinking it’s a sweet safe treat. While it may taste delicious, soda can harm your body in many different ways.
Did you know that a typical 20-ounce bottle of soda contains about 17 teaspoons of sugar from high fructose corn syrup? That’s a lot of sugar!
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has received a lot of unwanted attention over the past few years. It is a sweetener made from corn and can be found in many foods and beverages on grocery store shelves, ranging from candy and soda to bread and ketchup.
HFCS is much sweeter than cane sugar and much cheaper to produce, which is why it’s poured into processed foods throughout the supermarket. HFCS is highly processed and has been linked to all sorts of health issues, including obesity, cavities, and a host of other health concerns and diseases. Another downside to the overuse of HFCS is that the environmental impact is huge.
If that’s not enough to turn you away from your next can of soda, the corn used to make HFCS most likely contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Currently, up to 92 percent of U.S. corn is genetically engineered.
And HFCS isn’t the only questionable ingredient in a can of soda.
If you’re opting for sugar-free soda be wary of the artificial sweeteners. According to a University of Iowa study, “Drinking two or more diet drinks a day may increase the risk of heart disease, including heart attack and stroke, in otherwise healthy postmenopausal women.”
The revamped Diet Pepsi formula replaces the toxic artificial sweetener aspartame with a blend of sucralose (best known by the brand name Splenda) and acesulfame potassium. Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than regular sugar, and acesulfame potassium is 200 times sweeter than sugar. Sucralose may be responsible for several health issues, including contributing to weight gain and obesity.
Many diet sodas continue to contain aspartame. Aspartame is one of the most common artificial sweeteners in use today. It is sold under the brand names NutraSweet and Equal. Aspartame and sugar have the same number of calories, but aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar, so less is needed to sweeten a food product.
Some sodas (mainly colas) contain phosphoric acid, which is added to soft drinks to provide a sharper, tangy taste and to help slow the growth of molds and bacteria. The phosphoric acid in cola leaches calcium out of our bones. Diet and regular colas both contain high levels of phosphoric acid.
Another ingredient commonly added to soda is caffeine. Caffeine in high amounts can cause bone loss. It interferes with calcium absorption and causes a slight increase in the amount of calcium in urine.
If you’re looking for a healthier option, steer clear of soda and stick with water or other drinks that don’t contain harmful ingredients that could contribute to bone loss and a host of other health conditions. If you’re looking to lose weight, forgo the diet soda and start adding more real food to your menu.