YOU on a Diet ( 11/01/07 - 02/29/08 )

[jezzie]

. . . To access our last thread: . . .

YOU on a Diet .....

[jezzie]

Dr. Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.

Dr. Oz is Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery at Columbia University. He directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

His research interests include heart replacement surgery, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, complementary medicine, and health care policy. He has authored over 400 original publications, book chapters, and medical books and has received several patents. He performs over 350 heart operations annually.

In addition to belonging to every major professional society for heart surgeons, Dr. Oz was elected as a Global Leaders of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, won the prestigious American Association for Thoracic Surgery Gross Research Scholarship, and has received an honorary doctorate from Istanbul University.

He was voted “The Best and Brightest” by Esquire Magazine and was elected one of the Doctors of the Year by Hippocrates magazine, and Healers of the Millenium by Healthy Living magazine.

He is annually elected as one of the best physicians in the USA by the Castle Connolly Guide as well as other major ranking groups.

[jezzie]

YOU: On a Diet The 99-Second Edition
From YOU: The Owner’s Manual, by RealAge experts Michael F. Roizen, MD, and Mehmet C. Oz, MD

In the weight-loss gates and can’t wait to start the race? Then skim through this cheat sheet of the YOU strategies -- big and small -- that form the path to your new life and your new body.
-- Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz

Make Your Eating Plan Automatic
Over a 14-day period, train yourself to make good-for-YOU menu choices. You’ll reprogram your body so YOU will be in charge of what you’re eating.

•Eat three main meals, plus snacks, so you’re never hungry.
•Eat the same things for breakfast and lunch almost every day. Yes, every day. People who minimize food choices lose more weight.

Remember That Waist Is More Important Than Weight
Because of its proximity to vital organs, belly fat is the most dangerous fat you can carry, and it is one of the strongest predictors of health risks (heart disease, diabetes, and more bad stuff) associated with obesity.

•Ditch the scale in favor of the tape measure.
•Measure your waist and aim small: Ideal is 32½ inches or less for women and 35 inches or less for men.

Stay Satisfied
To lose weight, you need to eat.

•Eat often -- five or six times throughout the day -- so you’re constantly satisfied. Slipping into starvation mode makes your body want to store fat.
•Eat plenty of fiber in the morning; it helps control afternoon cravings.

Add Support
Enlist a friend, family member, or new online buddy as your partner. Everyone needs encouragement -- or an occasional prod.

Know That It’s OK to Make Mistakes
As long as you quickly get back on the right road, you won’t travel too far down the wrong one. Just make a YOU-turn to change course.

A Few Final Tips . . .

•Check food labels: Don’t buy anything with more than 4 grams of saturated fat or 4 grams of any sugar (especially high-fructose corn syrup) per serving. Sat fat is an aging fat that’s bad for your whole body, and simple sugars make you crave high-calorie foods.
•Get 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. Fatigue also makes you crave sugary foods. Why? They release the brain chemicals that a lack of sleep leaves you short on.
•Eat a little healthy fat -- like a handful of walnuts -- about 20 minutes before a meal. It will take the edge off, so you won’t be tempted to overeat.
•Choose elegance over force: Weight-loss battles are won when you diet smart, not hard.

[jezzie]

•Where Fat Lives

Fat is like real estate: It's all about location, location, location. And when it comes to body fat, the belly is the least desirable location.

We all have fat in three places: in our bloodstream (called triglycerides), just below the skin's surface
(called subcutaneous fat), and in a layer of tissue located inside the belly that hangs underneath the muscles of your stomach (called omentum fat).

Because omentum fat is so close to your vital organs, it's property you want to unload. It greedily intrudes on all the other structures around it, squishing the diaphragm and lungs, which makes breathing difficult, and squashing the kidneys and their blood supply.

More: Because the omentum can store fat that is quickly accessible to the liver, it can cause lousy (LDL) cholesterol and triglyceride levels to rise. It also sucks insulin out of circulation, which makes your blood sugar level climb.

But the good news is that as soon as you reduce waist-expanding omentum fat, your body starts seeing the effects. In other words, once your body senses it's losing that fat, your body's blood-related numbers -- cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar -- start traveling in a healthy direction.


Reference: YOU: On a Diet. Roizen, M. F., Oz, M. C., New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.

[jezzie]

•What Should You Eat?

As you choose from the five major food groups, focus on foods that are low in calories and high in nutrients. Eating this way helps you get the necessary vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fats without getting more calories than you need to maintain your weight.

And eating this way can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger!

After you've kicked out nutritional felons like simple sugars and trans fats, stock your fridge, freezer, and pantry with these items: Fruits and veggies: Aim for four servings of fruit and five servings of vegetables daily. A serving fits in the palm of your hand.

High-fiber fruits and veggies: like broccoli, apples, and raspberries will help satisfy your hunger longer than low-fiber produce. Are you getting enough fruits and veggies?

Whole grains: Whole-grain breads, cereals, rice, and pasta are high in fiber and B vitamins. They slow digestion and help keep blood-sugar levels steady.
How many years younger could you be if you ate 25 grams of fiber -- instead of just 12 -- per day?

Low-fat or nonfat dairy: Yogurt, cottage cheese, and milk provide calcium for strong bones.

Lean meats: If you eat meat, choose skinless chicken and turkey for lean protein options. Fish is another wise choice because it's a great source of heart-healthy fats.

Nuts: Crunchy, satisfying, and full of healthful fats, an ounce of nuts per day makes the perfect snack for people managing their waists.

The best diet meets your nutritional needs and provides just enough calories to fuel your day. So if you're satisfied with your current weight, balance your daily calorie intake with your physical activity level.

If you're trying to shed a few pounds, making the kitchen switches outlined above is a great first step in getting more of the healthy-but-still-fills-you-up foods into your diet.

[jezzie]

•Restock Your Fridge

The first step to getting on the path to better eating is to take stock of your pantry! Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen say there are five ingredients that should be banned from your diet forever.

The first ingredient to avoid is hydrogenated oil, which often masquerades as partially hydrogenated oil. Dr. Roizen says we should also eliminate sugar and high fructose corn syrup from our foods.

"We eat 63 pounds of [high fructose corn syrup] a year, which puts 33 pounds on the typical American," he says.

Enriched flour is the fourth ingredient to avoid. "[Enriched] means they took all the good stuff out and put a little back," Dr. Roizen says. In 1960, Americans didn't use enriched flour, but today we consume 63 pounds a year, he says.

The fifth offenders are white foods —including bleached flour. The only white items you should have in your fridge are egg whites, cauliflower and fish, Dr. Roizen says.

Finished clearing your kitchen of bad fats, sugars, and carbs? Start shopping for the good-for-your-waist foods that make it easy (and automatic!) to eat right.

Include fire-extinguisher munchies -- good foods that will put out three-alarm starvation fires. Pick up ready-to-eat snacks for those times you're likely to reach for waist-killing chips or sweets.

Our list includes almonds, peanuts, or walnuts; bags of prechopped fruits and veggies; dried fruit (apricots, cranberries); and edamame (soybeans -- look for microwavable bags in the frozen-food section).

Plus, snacking on edamame will boost your bone health, and munching on a handful of nuts will promote heart health.
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[jezzie]

•Food Shopping

Whole grains (bread, cereal, rice, pasta) provide the foundation of a healthful diet.

You should consume 6 to 11 servings a day from this food group.

Not only are whole grains nutrient-packed but they are also high in fiber that aids in the prevention of colon cancer and other digestive disorders.

Overall, the trick to navigating through grocery store aisles is to look for less . . . on the label. Generally, fewer ingredients equal better foods.

For instance, natural foods that come from the ground usually don't require labels. That's why any produce is basically OK for you.

One caveat: Make sure it has a great feel, a healthy smell, and has not been waxed.

Also, we believe in working from the inside of the store out, so that heat and bacteria have less time to sap nutrients from your produce before you get home.
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[jezzie]

•Foods That Fill You Up Without Fattening You Up

Want to eat more and weigh less? Think "density" when you're choosing foods.

In nutrition lingo, foods that are low in "energy density" have lots of water and fiber, but little fat and fewer calories.

How do they stack up nutritionally? Just fine, according to a new study. For example, a piece of apple pie has about 400 calories; for the same calories, you can crunch on five healthful apples -- and since one or two will fill you up, you'll skinny down.

When you eat more foods that are dense in everything but fat and calories -- think juicy melons, pears, cucumbers, broccoli, and berries -- it not only helps keep you slim but also revs up the nutritional quality of your diet.

When researchers compared people on low, medium, and high energy-density diets, they discovered that women who favored foods low in energy density averaged 250 fewer calories a day compared to those in the other groups; men averaged 425 fewer calories.

Yet the nutritional quality of their meals didn't suffer. In fact, they had higher intakes of vitamins A, C, and B6; folate; iron; calcium; and potassium.

In other words, eating low on the density scale isn't just good for your waist, it's good for your health; the extra fiber and nutrients fight disease as well as pounds.

Which foods are naturally dense?

The stars are fruits and veggies. So although your daily intake should include plenty of whole grains -- and some healthy fats and low-fat protein (beans, fish, lean poultry) -- replace some of these with extra veggies. Later, grab an orange or banana for a snack. Then, watch your waist whittle down.
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[jezzie]

•All About YOU: Eat This First

If you're famished, eat a little fat before you sit down for a meal. Did we say fat?

Yes, but we're talking about the good kind. Eating some healthy fat 20 minutes before a meal can keep you from stuffing yourself. It fools your brain into thinking you're not as hungry as you thought.

And your waist will reap the rewards. How does healthy fat do it?

About 70 calories of healthy fat just before you eat -- that's 6 walnuts, 12 almonds, or 20 peanuts -- can trick you into thinking you're full.

Eating good fats stimulates the production of cholecystokinin (CCK), a hormone that tells your brain you've had enough to eat and then keeps you feeling full by slowing the emptying of your stomach.

So when you sit down for a meal, you'll eat for pleasure, not for hunger, and you'll be likely to eat less.

Slow It Down

Because the average person is finished eating long before his or her brain gets the fullness signal, you should eat slowly. Quickly downing your food won't give your satiety hormones time to kick in.

RealAge Benefit: Eating only healthful fat can make your RealAge 3.4 years younger.

[jezzie]

•All About YOU: How to Eat More and Weigh Less

Want to lose a few before the upcoming holiday? Fill up with fiber.

It's no news that boosting your fiber intake is good for your health. But boosting it at breakfast may be the key to staying lean, say RealAge doctors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz.

In their book, YOU: On a Diet, they suggest putting fiber-rich foods like oatmeal, whole-grain toast, or a veggie-packed omelet on your morning menu to curb afternoon binging on Cheetos or cookies. That's because fiber acts like a speed bump in your gastrointestinal tract, slowing everything way down, so you stay fuller longer.

This is one way you can use your body chemistry, not willpower, to curb cravings and get to your ideal body size.

Believe it or not, enjoying a fiberful diet -- especially at breakfast -- can reduce your calorie intake for up to 18 hours a day. And it helps control blood sugar and lower insulin levels. Although you should aim for 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day, avoid adding it all at once or you'll produce more gas than a Saudi oil field, say the doctors.

Start with an additional 1 to 2 grams of dietary fiber -- the amount in a slice of whole-grain bread or 1/2 cup of green beans -- at and between meals and slowly increase from there.

RealAge Benefit: Eating 25 grams (make that 38 grams if you're a man under 50) of fiber per day makes your RealAge 2.5 years younger than eating 12 grams of fiber per day.

[jezzie]

•Make Eating Automatic

To lose weight, start each day knowing when and what you're going to eat. Then, don't think about it again.

Plan three main meals plus snacks, so you're never hungry. That way, you'll avert the 180-degree shift between starving and gorging that occurs when you skip meals. Eating often and automating your eating are two keys to waist management.

Stick with the YOU plan for 14 days and you'll learn to do both, which will start reprogramming your body so that you never again have to sweat over what you're eating.

More: Two more key elements of waist-loss success: Don't eat within 3 hours of bedtime, and make dessert an every-other-day treat.

Also, since research shows that your surroundings affect how much you eat at meals, give some thought to your dining environment. Specifically, to create a mood that discourages indulgence and overeating, use a little dining room feng shui:

* Choose bright lights, not soft lights.
* Choose a warm room temperature, not a cool one.
* Choose conversation, not music or TV, which can distract you into eating more.


•Right on Schedule

You can avoid overeating and boost your metabolism by keeping an eye on the clock.

A recent study revealed that eating at regular intervals throughout the day appears to help people eat less and burn more calories than eating at irregular times. Stick to a consistent schedule as much as possible, and be sure to keep nuts, fresh fruit, and whole-wheat crackers on hand to munch on when your usual mealtime gets delayed.

Skipping meals or eating at varied times during the day can slow your metabolism and cause your body to hoard fat and calories, all of which can lead to extra pounds. A recent study revealed that women who ate meals and snacks at regular intervals throughout the day ate less overall, burned more calories, had lower total and LDL cholesterol levels, and showed improved glucose tolerance. Keep your energy levels up and your metabolism in full gear by eating a small amount of healthy foods every 2 to 3 hours throughout the day.

Pair high-fiber snacks with a bit of healthy fat or protein, such as whole-wheat crackers with peanut butter or a cup of low-fat yogurt with a handful of chopped walnuts or granola. Aerobic exercise, including brisk walking, cycling, and swimming, also will help boost your metabolism.

RealAge Benefit: Eating a diverse diet that is low in calories and high in nutrients can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger.

[jezzie]

•Top 10 Veggies List

Make sure the vegetables you eat the most are the most nutritious veggies you can eat.

If you're a broccoli lover, you've picked a winner.

From a list of 10 of the most commonly consumed vegetables in the country, broccoli holds the top spot for having the most phytochemicals -- compounds everyone's urged to consume because they protect against chronic diseases. At the bottom of the list? Cucumbers, described by some people as "water you can eat."

The 9 runners-up to broccoli were spinach, yellow onions, red peppers, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, lettuce, celery, and cucumbers. Red peppers actually beat out broccoli in terms of having the highest levels of antioxidants.

The same researchers also have rated 10 of the most popular fruits. Cranberries -- with the most phytochemicals and the most antioxidants -- topped that list, followed by apples, red grapes, strawberries, peaches, lemons, pears, bananas, oranges, grapefruit, and pineapple.

Food scientists aren't ranking veggies just to satisfy their curiosity, by the way. They're contemplating a bioactivity index (BI) for dietary cancer prevention to help grocery shoppers quickly spot the fruits and veggies that have the biggest health benefits.

RealAge Benefit: Eating a diverse diet that includes 5 servings of vegetables per day can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger.
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[jezzie]

Wednesday's foods:

Pre-Breakfast:
2 cups half decaf with evaporated milk
raw almnds

Breakfast:
old fashioned oatmeal w/cinnamon, buckwheat honey
Granny Smith apple

Snack:
6 oz. Vanilla soy milk, banana

Lunch:
whole grain pasta w/hot pepper sauce, Parmesan
salad w/ extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar

Snack:
5.5 oz. can of V-8 juice, banana

Dinner:
butternut squash soup (Campbell's Select)
chili w/brown rice and topped with cheddar
.

[jezzie]

•Top 5 Ways to Reduce Your Cancer Risk

Here's a list you'll want to check twice: Five ways to slash your risk of cancer.

Doing just one of the anticancer steps is better than nothing. But do all of them and you're cancer risk could drop by as much as 30 percent.

1. Don't smoke (a no-brainer).
2. Limit red meat, alcohol, fat, and . . . . . . salt.
3. Eat fruit, veggies, and whole grains -- lots of them!
4. Exercise regularly.
5. Watch your weight.

Pick and Choose, Just Pick

Although there is no surefire way to prevent cancer, making healthy choices in your daily life may reduce your risk. If you don't feel capable of following all the anticancer guidelines, at least choose to do the ones you know you have a good shot of sticking to.

You can add a few more later, once you've made some progress. Baby steps are fine. And they're waaaay better than doing nothing.

RealAge Benefit: Actively patrolling your health can make your RealAge as much as 12 years younger.

[jezzie]

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Reminder. Dr. Oz is on Oprah today. Subject: Anti-Aging
ABC ... 4pm (Eastern Standard Time)


99-Second Guide to Life’s Major Agers

We all know what can happen as we get older: memory loss, aching bones, low libido, heart problems . . . But the real culprits aren't the problems per se; the biological mechanisms that cause them in the first place are. We call them Major Agers. And in our new book, YOU: Staying Young, we explain how they work and how you can slow them down before they slow you down. Here's an at-a-glance guide to life's 14 Major Agers.
-- Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz

[jezzie]

1. Major Ager: Bad Genes and Short Telomeres
Responsible for: Memory Problems
Your genes are key in determining how you age -- and what conditions and diseases you're most vulnerable to getting. It's true, you can't change your genes, but you can help control the way they're expressed. How? Take telomeres -- the tips of your chromosomes. They're much like the tips of a shoelace, and with general wear and tear, they can shorten and fray, causing age-related health issues, such as memory loss.
Action Plan: Help keep your telomeres -- and memory -- sharp with stress reduction, brain games and regular exercise.

2. Major Ager: Oxidation and Inefficient Mitochondria
Responsible for: Heart Problems
When mitochondria -- the parts of your cells that turn food into energy -- do their job, they produce oxygen-free radicals that cause dangerous inflammation. Just like an old factory, aging mitochondria spill this "industrial waste" into your body's environment, and the effect -- oxidation -- is what causes "rusting" of your arteries, which contributes to the aging of your cardiovascular system.
Action Plan: Help counter oxidation and get the waste out of your system by taking 162 milligrams of aspirin a day (check with your doc first) and eating healthy foods like fish, fruit, and vegetables.

3. Major Ager: Stem-Cell Slowdown
Responsible for: The Damaging Effects of Stress
Stem cells repair damaged cells throughout your body -- damage that can be caused by anything from sunburn to smoking. But as you age, you lose stem cells, which leaves you more vulnerable to stress-related conditions and less able to recover from damage to your body.
Action Plan: Keep your stem cells intact by avoiding the things that damage them:
- Protect yourself from sunburn.
- If you smoke, quit.
- Reduce stress.

4. Major Ager: Declining Defenses
Responsible for: Weakened Immunity
When it comes to aging, we're not only concerned with acute infections -- colds, flu, and such. We're also concerned with chronic infections; they're the ones that can trigger an inflammatory response that ages your entire system. How? Chronic inflammation -- from an overworked and stressed out immune system -- leaves your body underequipped to deal when something goes wrong.
Action Plan: Try chi-gong (also spelled qigong), a series of meditative movements that help calm the immune system to reduce chronic inflammation.

5. Major Ager: Toxins
Responsible for: Cancer, Breathing Problems
You live in a world with chemicals spewing out all around you -- from cars, cleaning products, and factories. Some of the toxins make themselves obvious (for instance, they smell bad), but many are colorless or odorless, so you may not notice that they're seeping into your world and your body.
Action Plan: Don't live in fear of every chemical, but be aware of your environment, and make it as healthy as you can.
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[jezzie]

6. Major Ager: Glycosylation
Responsible for: Diabetes, Vision Problems, Heart Disease
It sounds like something you'd order up at Jiffy Lube, but glycosylation is a form of cellular aging that has dramatic effects. When excess sugar molecules in your blood attach themselves to protein molecules on the surface of your cells, they goop them up and keep them from performing as they should. That's glycosylation. And it contributes to vision problems, heart disease, and diabetes, among other things.
Action Plan: Keep your blood sugar levels under control by maintaining a healthy weight -- and waist size -- being physically active, and eating a balanced diet. If you're overweight, losing just a couple of inches around your middle will help reduce glycosylation.

7. Major Ager: Calorie Consumption and Sirtuin Slowdown
Responsible for: Obesity, Digestive Issues
Limiting calories activates a protein in your body called sirtuin, which helps neutralize aging. Seriously. Here's how: Sirtuin is like sunshine -- it helps your cells thrive, divide, rejuvenate your body with new stem cells, which repair age-related damage, so you live younger.
Action Plan: Follow the 14-Day Extended Warranty Plan -- it's full of sirtuin-stimulating activities.

8. Major Ager: Neurotransmitter Imbalance
Responsible for: Sleep Problems, Cognitive Decline
"Neurotransmitter" is just a fancy name for a messenger in your brain. And we all know the damage that can result from crossed wires and mixed messages. It's no different inside your head. If your neurons aren't communicating effectively, your whole system gets out of whack. As you age, you lose some of your neurotransmitters -- and that's linked to issues such as depression, cognitive decline, and sleep problems.
Action Plan: Deep sleep helps your neurotransmitters fire more efficiently, which in turn helps you sleep better.

9. Major Ager: Wacky Hormones
Responsible for: Menopausal Issues
Hormones. They go up and down and all around and eventually start to decline. During menopause, as your body settles into its new hormonal equilibrium, you may experience symptoms that profoundly influence how you feel, from hot flashes and sleep problems to aching joints and forgetfulness.
Action Plan: Try meditation to help calm hot flashes, review this plan for deep sleep, and get plenty of exercise and calcium to build -- and keep -- strong bones.

10. Major Ager: Not Enough Nitric Oxide
Responsible for: Sexual Dysfunction, Sleep Problems
Swirling around in your body is a gas called nitric oxide (N.O.). It plays a pretty big role in keeping your body healthy by turning on a chain reaction in your cells that allows blood vessels to relax and dilate. The decline in N.O. that occurs as we age is partly responsible for such problems as sleep disorders and erectile dysfunction.
Action Plan: Activate the release of nitric oxide in your body through deep nasal breathing. Or head for the sauna -- the heat helps your body release N.O.

11. Major Ager: UV Radiation
Responsible for: Vision Problems, Skin Aging
It's no news that ultraviolet (UV) rays damage skin, leading to wrinkles, sagging, splotchiness, and an increased risk of skin cancer. But UV rays also form free radicals that can damage vision, too.
Action Plan: Protect your peepers with sunglasses that have 99% UV protection. Since powerful rays can get to your eyes from above your glasses, it's also smart to wear a hat.

12. Major Ager: Disuse Atrophy
Responsible for: Bone Weakening
It's the use-it-or-lose-it theory of aging. And it's true for your memory, your sex organs, your muscles, and especially your bones. If you don't challenge these systems and keep them in good working order, they become unreliable -- fast.
Action Plan: Strengthen your bones by walking every day, doing the YOU2 Workout, and getting plenty of calcium and vitamin D.

13. Major Ager: Wear and Tear
Responsible for: Hearing Problems
The opposite of disuse atrophy, wear and tear happens when parts of your body undergo too much stress. To some extent, wear and tear is a function of time. But it’s also a function of behavior, and most of us forget that our hearing is something we shouldn’t abuse. Just as overtaxed joints wear out faster than those that are gently strengthened and stretched, ears become damaged if they’re overexposed to loud noise.
Action Plan: Protect your hearing by eating folate-rich foods -- found in leafy green veggies, egg yolks, and corn. And go easy on the heavy-metal concerts.

14. Major Ager: Unforced Errors
Responsible for: Accidents
Life happens. Some accidents are just plain unpreventable. But you can take steps to prevent the unnecessary and immediate aging they can cause.
Action Plan: Make healthy lifestyle choices. Wear your seat belt in the car; wear a helmet when you go cycling or sledding; and reduce the likelihood of falls by working on your balance.

Send a clear message to your Major Agers. Start the 14-Day Extended Warranty Plan today.

[LibbyLottie]

Hi Jezzie! Whhy did you have to switch?

[jezzie]

Libby

A couple of newer people mentioned it was too much to read through.
This way all the 'basics' of the plan will be on page one.
And there will be a link to the original one if anyone wants to go back.

I will try to get a bunch of recipes on page two ... when we get to it.

[Patlaf]

This article was in today's Daily Telegraph (London), and I thought that the YOUers would find it interesting.

Red meat and alcohol 'increase cancer risk' - Telegraph

[jezzie]

I thought that the YOUers would find it interesting.

Thanks Pat ... great minds think almost alike.


I had posted an article about this at the Medical Forum.
Never even thought of putting a link here.

[mis-informed]

Hey guys.

Thanks for the link.

Bookmarking my place here.