Lose Weight
Lose Weight – Learn research based strategies to lose weight and keep it off – permanently!
Lower CholesterolWorksite Wellness Programs – Does your employer influence your choices?
Right now there are a number of federal rules that limit what employers and insurers can do to encourage and reward healthy behavior, such as being physically active, losing weight, and smoking cessation.
President Obama has outlined 8 principles for health legislation that will make it easier for employers to provide worksite wellness and prevention programs, such as tax credits and other subsidies. The goals of worksite wellness programs would be to promote heart health, decrease obesity, manage diabetes, and other chronic health conditions.
Some proposals provide periodic screenings for health problems and others include counseling focused on healthier lifestyles. By becoming healthier, employees will reduce health care costs and productivity increases. Rewards for achieving a healthier lifestyle may include financial incentives, such as gift certificates and cash rewards. Some insurers already reward employees with lower health insurance premiums.
Of course, there’s always going to be the “other side of the coin” as some criticize the plan, saying employers will be prying too much into employee’s personal lives.
What do you think? Would a good worksite wellness program influence you to take action to live a healthier life?
One option to achieve a healthy worksite is by incorporating the Worksite Wellness Programs available to you.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Lose WeightWeight Loss – 4 Tips to Prevent Stress Related Weight Gain
Stress is linked to weight gain in that it stimulates the release of cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that breaks down muscle to provide the body with needed glucose for energy needs. Cortisol also relocates fat cell deposits into the visceral cavities of the abdomen. Increased abdominal fat increases your heart disease risk.
Here are three tips to decrease stress related weight gain.
1. Push-ups
Effective, instant stress reliever that tricks the body into thinking your escaping stress. Push-ups cause your blood to circulate quickly, transporting cortisol to your kidney’s and removing it from your system.
2. Eat slowly
Stress typically leads to consuming meals very quickly, which equals bigger portions to fill full, and adds to your belly fat. Being mindful and eating slowly, savoring every flavor/texture, may actually lower cortisol, decrease your calorie intake, and move fat away from the abdominal area.
3. Avoid strict calorie restricted diets.
If you’re always “on a diet”, cortisol levels may rise as much as 18 percent. The rise in cortisol causes a blood sugar spike followed by a drop. This roll coaster ride makes your brain feel deprived of sugar (it’s main source for energy) and your ability to stick with a strict diet plan falters.
I’ll be sharing four more tips in a few days.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
The Best Way to Lose Weight
Lose WeightLose Weight by Eating Breakfast
You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again – breakfast is the most important meal of the day. There’s just no way around it.
I frequently hear “I don’t have time for breakfast” and “I’m not hungry in the morning”, neither reason negates the importance of eating breakfast every morning. Maybe it’ll be easier to make breakfast a priority if you understand why it’s so important.
First, breakfast occurs after about an 8 hour fast (think how many hours are between your last meal of the day and breakfast). When you wake up in the morning, your blood sugar and glycogen stores (carbohydrates stored in your muscles and liver) are depleted and the body is searching for fuel. If you don’t feed your body it goes into conservation mode, drops your metabolism (the rate at which you burn calories throughout the day), preserves your fat stores (the body is thinking “starvation”), and will turn to muscle for the energy it seeks.
Second, when you skip breakfast you’ll frequently grab snacks mid-morning to tide you over until lunch. Usually, the snacks that tempt you are high in fat, sugar, and calories. A breakfast that includes a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fiber reduces these mid-morning cravings.
What’s Going on Physically
Your body is primed and ready to go in the morning. Your metabolism is boosted and your hormones cortisol, adrenaline, and serotonin are highest first thing in the morning.
Cortisol
This hormone promotes the breakdown of lipids (fancy name for fats) which is a good thing; however, it also promotes the breakdown of muscle. It blocks muscle from taking in more amino acids (muscle building blocks) and inhibits new muscle formation.
Adrenaline
Your fight or flight hormone increases your blood sugar to give your body immediate energy by breaking down glycogen in the liver and mobilizing amino acids stored in muscles. However, I’ve already stated that by the time morning rolls around, your glycogen levels are depleted. This means there’s not a reserve glycogen supply and muscle receives adrenaline’s full attention for the fuel it’s after.
Serotonin
Just to throw an extra hurdle into your morning routine, serotonin is at peak levels first thing in the morning. Serotonin reduces your appetite. There’s a reason you don’t feel hungry!
Research Support
A recent weight loss study reinforces the importance of breakfast. Two groups of women were compared. The first group followed a low calorie diet (1200 calories) that included a balanced protein/carbohydrate intake. This first group ate 50% of their daily calories in the morning (600 calories). The second group followed a low calorie (1000 calories), low carbohydrate diet and ate 25% of their calories in the morning. The first group lost ~40 pounds over 6 months, while the second group lost ~10 pounds (28 pounds first 4 months, followed by 18 pound regain). These results support the fact that a substantial, well-balanced breakfast is essential for long-term weight loss success.
Tired of changes that don't last?
Quick and Easy Breakfast Lose Weight Ideas
What can you do if breakfast doesn’t appeal to you? If you’ve been skipping breakfast for years, changing your habits will be hard, but not impossible. Take it slow and add something small working your way up to a good breakfast with a balance of carbohydrates and protein.
Here are some examples of quick and easy breakfast meals that include a balance of protein and carbohydrates.
- Whole wheat toast with peanut butter
- Low fat cottage cheese with canned peaches (light syrup)
- Banana with handful of mixed nuts
- Whole grain cereal with low fat milk
- Apple with hard-boiled egg
- Low fat yogurt with granola
By eating a well-balanced breakfast you provide your body the fuel it needs, protect your muscles, boost your metabolism, and reduce cravings throughout the day.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson, RD
Lose WeightWhy am I always hungry? Are women biologically hungrier than men?
Do you frequently ask yourself, why am I always hungry?
I just read an interesting study I want to share with you. This research was done at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Thirteen men women and 10 men were asked about their favorite foods, taught a cognitive inhibition technique, and then were asked to fast overnight. The next day they received brain scans as they were presented their favorite foods. Results showed all participants indicated the cognitive-inhibition technique helped reduce their level of hunger. Interestingly, only men’s brains showed a decrease in hunger signals. Even though women stated they were less hungry, the brain scans showed their brains firing away signals to eat.
Maybe this is one reason the incidence of obesity is higher for women. It’s speculated that the difference is biological and women are programmed to eat whenever food is available as part of the ingrained need to provide nutrition to children.
Tired of changes that don't last?
All the best,
Lisa Nelson, RD
Lose WeightWeight Loss – Are low carb diets affecting your brain function?
Some studies are being conducted evaluating the effects of low carb diets, such as the Atkins diet, on cognitive ability. Brain function on a low carb diet may be impaired because glucose is the nutrient used by the brain for energy and the brain is not capable of storing glucose, but is depended on the bodies production of this nutrient.
Many low carb diets restrict intake to as little as 20 grams per day, while the RDA for carbs is at least 130 grams (taking into account the brains energy needs).
One study compared long and short term memory, spatial memory, and visual attention of women prior to beginning a low carb diet, post low carb diet, and after reintroduction of carbs. Those following a low carb diet had a gradual decline in memory performance and slower reaction time on all tests. Interestingly, attention span was improved on the low carb diet.
Fortunately, memory skills and scores returned to normal after carbohydrates were reintroduced.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
Be Heart Healthy and Lose Weight
Lose WeightWeight Loss – Have you tried Stevia, the new zero-calorie sweetener?
Stevia has been approved by the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) as “generally recognized as safe”, meaning it can be marketed as a dietary supplement and added to food and drink products.
Stevia is using the label “natural” since it’s derived from the leaf of the stevia plant. This may be hard to accept due to the “bad rap” many artificial sweeteners have. Currently there are 5 artificial sweeteners approved by the FDA – aspartame (Nutrasweet, Equal), saccharin (Sweet’N Low), acesulfame-K (Sunett, Sweet One), neotame (made by NutraSweet), and sucralose (Splenda). Even though these sweeteners have received FDA approval, many question the safety and research studies are ongoing.
On the plus side for Stevia, it actually comes from a plant versus a lab. Stevia is a highly refined part of the plant called rebiana or Reb-A. This is the sweetest, purest part of the plant. A company out of Malaysia, PureCircle, claims to be the world’s largest supplier of Reb-A and has worked with a Swiss company to make the bitter, licorice flavor more palatable.
Regardless, we’ll soon be presented with many products containing Stevia in the near future. PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are launching new lines of stevia sweetened products along with producers of other food products, including baked goods and breakfast cereals.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
How to Lower Cholesterol in 8 Simple Steps
Image courtesy of Suat Eman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net