Healthy Diet: December 2006 Archives

By Kirsten Hawkins

If you’re on a diet, or considering going on one, you’re in luck. We’ve put together ten of the most frequently asked questions about diets and weight loss and compiled them here. Enjoy!

1. How much should I weigh?

Your doctor can answer that question most accurately. More important than how much you weigh is your body/mass index, which measures your height against your weight.

2. What's the best diet for losing weight?

Any diet that provides all the nutrition that you need for health, and in addition, provides fewer calories than your body burns regularly.

What Is the New American Plate?

Like three points on a triangle, physical activity, a mostly plant-based diet and weight management are three parts of one single approach to good health and lower cancer risk. They relate to each other closely. First, being physically active and second, eating a mostly plant-based diet are essential to the third component, managing your weight. And it’s a good thing they do relate, because it takes all three to reduce cancer risk.

Of the three, moving toward a plant-based diet seems to challenge people the most. Reshaping your diet conjures up all those guidelines to memorize and all that counting of calories, servings, or grams. It can get pretty confusing—and discouraging before you even begin.That’s why AICR developed the New American Plate—a way of planning healthy meals without any calculation or guidelines. Instead, you get used to relying on a wide range of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans so your plate will be filled with delicious foods that will reduce cancer risk and help you manage your weight.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring are safe to eat and should be allowed into the U.S. food supply without special labeling, a report says.

"All of the studies indicate that the composition of meat and milk from clones is within the compositional ranges of meat and milk consumed in the U.S.," two Food and Drug Administration scientists wrote in a report published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Theriogenology, which focuses on animal reproduction.

The finding is a strong signal the FDA will endorse the use of cloning technology for cattle, goats and pigs when it publishes a key safety assessment next week, The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Previously published folic acid related articles -  Folic acid can cut heart attack riskSpinach 'fights skin cancer relapse' and 

Folic acid should be added to flour to cut the risk of birth defects such as spina bifida, experts have recommended.

The Expert Advisory Group on Nutrition said it supports bringing in mandatory fortification.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) will now launch a consultation to see if the public supports the move.

However, there is concern that adding the vitamin to flour could harm some elderly patients, as it could mask a deficiency in the B12 vitamin.

You can maintain weight and even lose it if you eat your food slowly, according to a new University of Rhode Island study.

The theory that eating slowly means a lower food intake has been around for at least 30 years, but this study is the first to lend scientific proof to the idea.

"It started in 1972 as a hypothesis that eating slowly would allow the body time for the development of satiety, and we would eat less," said University of Rhode Island assistant professor of nutrition and food science Kathleen Melanson. "Since then it has become common knowledge, but no studies had been conducted to prove it."

Thirty college-aged women were split into two groups, the first of which was asked to eat pasta with tomato and vegetable sauce and Parmesan cheese without pausing between bites. This group averaged 646 calories in nine minutes. The second group was served the same meal, but asked to put their forks down and chew between bites, and averaged 579 calories in 29 minutes. The members of the second group reported still feeling full an hour after their meal.

The consumption of fruits and vegetables during pregnancy can reduce the chance of a miscarriage, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The study of nearly 7,000 pregnant women by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine looked for links between diet, lifestyle and miscarriage, and were detailed in the study led by Dr. Maureen Maconochie from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Maconochie and her colleagues studied thousands of pregnant women and concluded that those who ate fruits and vegetables often in pregnancy were 46 percent less likely to have a miscarriagefruits and veggies as often. compared to those who did not use

The high calorie, low fibre dietary pattern associated with the Western diet are associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, says new research from France.

In an epidemiological study from researchers at the Institute Gustave Roussy (Inserm, ERI20), the link between dietary patterns and the incidence of colorectal tumours in 516 adenoma cases and 4,804 polyp-free women and in 172 colorectal cancer cases and 67,312 cancer-free women.

People with a dietary pattern closely matching the "Western" diet, rich in processed foods and dairy, was found to significantly increase the risk of colorectal cancer, said the researchers.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Taco Bell on Tuesday raised to nine the number of fast-food restaurants it had closed in New York and New Jersey after a suspected outbreak of the foodborne E. coli bacteria that may have sickened more than 50 people in three states.

But the division of Yum Brands Inc. said no new cases had been reported since November 29 and it had planned to reopen the eight New York locations later on Tuesday.

The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services said it was investigating 40 cases of E. coli infection in four counties. So far, 23 people who were sickened between November 20 and possibly November 30 ate at a Taco Bell restaurant, the department said in a statement on its Web site.

Consumer and industry groups are clashing over how -- and if -- the government should regulate foods sold in the U.S. that tout an array of health claims.

Regulators are watching as companies market an ever wider list of energy drinks, teas, and even candy bars with added dietary supplement ingredients purported to improve health. Watchdog groups want authorities to crack down, accusing companies of making unfounded and sometimes bogus claims about the benefits of the products.

The FDA takes action against unsafe dietary supplements after they are on the market. Manufacturers are responsible for making sure their products are safe before they are marketed.

NEW YORK - From the corner pizzeria to high-end bakeries, New York City’s world famous eateries are preparing for kitchen scrutiny as the board of health moves Tuesday to ban trans fats.

The board was poised on Tuesday to make New York the nation’s first city to outlaw the unhealthy oils, though it’s expected to give restaurants a slight break by relaxing what had been considered a tight deadline for compliance.

The restaurant industry argued that it was unrealistic to give eateries six months to replace cooking oils and shortening and 18 months to phase out the ingredients altogether.

LONDON - Obese women can improve their health without dieting by changing their eating habits and exercising more, researchers said on Monday.

They showed that lifestyle changes including exercise programs such as tai chi, aqua aerobics and circuit training, coupled with behavior modification, can improve health risks in obese women even if they do not lose significant amounts of weight.

“People of all sizes and shapes can reduce their risk of poor health by adopting a healthier lifestyle,” Dr Erika Borkoles, of Leeds Metropolitan University in England, told a news conference.

Obesity is a growing public health problem worldwide and a leading preventable cause of death. An estimated 300 million people worldwide are obese.