November 19, 2004 Recent News 
Are Americans thinking about slimming down?
Low Carb Diet May Hurt Heart Health
Are Americans thinking about slimming down?
The number of people who say they are conscious of the calories they consume is 27 percent. It's the highest percentage since 1999. The number of people who say they are overweight remained unchanged, at 62 percent, for the second year in a row. This number had increased every year from 1995 until 2002. Snacking down slightly to 250 snacks a person from 253. Meals from home remained about the same, coming in at 77 percent of all meals. Meals eaten out decreased. Sit-down restaurant meals decreased to 83 a person, compared with 95 the year before. Take-out meals, which had increased over the past 10 years, leveled off at 117 a person. Overall, Americans ate out less last year than they did in 1985.
(Excerpted from Journal Now 10/27/2004)
Carb-Curbing Craze Cooling
The low-carb diet craze that has swept the nation may be fading as dieters continue their search for a fabled magic bullet. The growth in sales of low-carb products has slowed, and diet experts said it seems people are looking for a more balanced approach. The low-carb craze took off with the Atkins Diet, giving dieters free rein to eat red meat and cheese while giving up bread and cutting back on fruits. It was followed by the more moderate South Beach Diet, which puts more emphasis on eating vegetables while cutting back on carbs.
Dieting tends to be strong in the first quarter of the year, just after diners have made their New Year's resolutions. Dieters may also be tired of the extremism of the diets. Experts are divided on the effectiveness of the diets. Some studies show that they do help people lose weight, but the advantage appears to level off after a year. The long-term effect is unknown. Diets come and go, the question is how long do they hang on. Ultimately, people need to understand a calorie is a calorie and too many of them are bad.
(Excerpted from Boston Herald 11/1/2004)
Low Carb Diet May Hurt Heart Health
Millions of Americans who are faithful to low-carbohydrate regimens to lose weight are missing out on fiber-rich foods essential to healthy hearts. By eating a low-carbohydrate diet, you are selecting out those foods that may be rich in healthy carbohydrates, they're forgetting that not all carbohydrates are created equal. First, there's refined carbohydrates -- that's where the nutrition has been removed and manufacturers have sometimes added sugar to the product -- foods like white rice, white bread and cookies. On the other hand, there are the "good carbs" -- foods such as fruits, vegetables and, especially, whole grains -- all packed with micronutrients, minerals, antioxidants and fiber. In one recent study, involving data on the diets of more than 350,000 men and women, researchers found that, for every 10 grams of cereal fiber consumed daily, risks for death from heart disease dropped by 25 percent. There's more to fiber-rich foods such as whole grains than just fiber. The bran and the germ contain fiber, vitamins, thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, various minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. Daily servings of good carbohydrates are crucial to maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system. The bottom line is that by ignoring fiber-rich foods, individuals on low-carb diets aren't doing their hearts any favors.
(Excerpted from Health Day News 11/06/2004)
South Beach comes to lunch
At four Osceola County elementary schools, lunch menus for nearly 2,700 children have been tweaked to reduce the fat, sugar and calories suspected of helping create a generation of fat kids in America. Students also have been measured, weighed and fitted with pedometers to count each step they take each day and encourage them to keep active. The menu switch is part of a children's health study. With millions of children now considered overweight, it's important to identify practical changes to children's diets. If a positive correlation between the diet, body weight and other behaviors can be found the study may be expanded to other school districts. The objective is to prove that a school system, without totally and expensively uprooting everything, can make changes that will have a positive effect on the health and diet of children. The changes are ones that almost any school district can make, and some are doing so. Grilled chicken, fresh fruit and whole-wheat bread have replaced their higher-fat, higher-sugar, lower-fiber counterparts. The focus is on fiber, which is a key part of making sure children get the vitamins they need. Making children aware of the importance of diet and exercise is an important step in forming healthy habits for life.
(Excerpted from Sun Sentinel Nov 17, 2004)
Want to Lose Weight? Eat More
Losing weight may be as simple as eating more fruits and vegetables and less food that is "calorie-dense" such as cheese. Dieters who were told to eat foods that fill you up with water and fiber, such as vegetables and fruits, lost weight without counting calories and without gimmicks. And a second study looking at what people normally eat found that those who eat more fruits and vegetables tend to weigh less. These were the first large studies to demonstrate scientifically what common sense dictates -- fill up on less-fattening foods and lose weight. Groups such as the American Heart Association have long advocated eating more fruits and vegetables and eating less calorie-laden food such as meat, cheese and sweets. And several recent studies have shown that while diets such as high-protein regimens can help weight loss, the effects are short-term. This is the first long-term study to look at how a low energy density diet can affect body weight. It's important because it shows that a healthy diet pattern can result in significant weight loss without counting calories or fat grams.
(Excerpted from Reuters Nov 17, 2004)
Keep the weight off
People who have lost weight and manage to keep it off limit their daily calories to about 1,800 and walk about 4 miles a day, according to a new study. These findings are the latest look at the experiences of newer members of the National Weight Control Registry, a group of about 5,000 people who lost an average of 73 pounds and kept off at least 30 pounds for more than six years. Researchers have found that registry members dropped their extra pounds in different ways, but generally they keep the weight off by exercising regularly, consuming a relatively low-calorie and low-fat diet, weighing themselves regularly, having breakfast daily, eating in a consistent way and keeping track of what they eat. There has been an increase in recent years in the number of people who report eating a low-carbohydrate diet, which reflects current diet trends. To lose weight, they used a variety of different methods, but to keep it off, they restructured their lives and made maintaining their weight a priority.
(Excerpted from USA Today Nov 18, 2004)
