That's Fit

Continue reading The Best Weight-Loss Tool in the World?

The Best Weight-Loss Tool in the World?

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

Photo: Getty Images

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

I can't help but watch with a combination of amusement and sadness when I read about the billions of dollars spent each year on useless weight-loss products, programs that don't work and high-priced gimmicks that promise to effortlessly relieve the pain of being overweight -- especially when some of the best weight-loss tools in the world are both virtually free and right under our noses.

Which brings me to the subject of today's post: The apple.

Yup, the lowly, all-to-common apple, of which there are literally hundreds of varieties. They're available 12 months a year (but in season right now!), are cheap as dirt, can be had anywhere -- and they happen to be one of the best kept weight-management tools on the planet.

Continue reading Another Reason to Lose Weight

Another Reason to Lose Weight

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

Photo: Getty Images

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Here's another reason to take weight loss seriously (as if you needed one!): Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington have just published the most comprehensive study ever about how diet, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors for chronic disease contribute to mortality in the United States.

Want to know what they found? The number of preventable deaths per year in the U.S. tied specifically to obesity and overweight is (drum roll please): 216,000. Pretty stunning figure, isn't it? And, just to hammer home the point, the number of preventable deaths due specifically to a sedentary lifestyle is another 191,000.

Now, I'm familiar with the arguments about being fat and fit, and they're not without some merit. Steven Blair, the well-known director of research at the Cooper Aerobics Center in Texas defines himself as a "fat, fit guy" -- he runs more than five miles per week -- but the fact remains that being overweight raises the risk for lots of things that you don't want to have. That said, if you can't lose weight -- or if you don't want to -- at least start exercising. You can definitely decrease the odds of dying, not to mention improve circulation and mood, and even preserve your brain. Plus, even if you're not specifically trying to use exercise as a weight-loss technique, it doesn't take a whole lot to get those health benefits and take yourself out of the "high risk for dying" group. Just 30 minutes a day of brisk walking. And just as it doesn't take that much exercise to make a major difference in your health, it also doesn't take a lot of weight loss.

Continue reading Willpower Is a Muscle

Willpower Is a Muscle

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Photo: Getty Images

Ever wonder why it's so easy to succumb to the lure of a Krispy Kreme on days when you're really stressed?

Scientists are beginning to discover that there's a method to the madness of overindulging. And that key may explain a great deal about both overeating and under-exercising.

Emerging research is suggesting that willpower and self-control may be a limited resource. When we use it up on a given day -- say, by concentrating intensely on a stressful job -- we have less left over to "spend" on things like resisting Häagen-Dazs.

Continue reading White Tea Fights Fat

White Tea Fights Fat

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

Photo: Getty Images

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Green tea has been heralded for years as a great addition to your diet if you're watching your weight. The evidence for tea as a weight loss companion continues to grow, but this time it's white tea in the spotlight.

The researchers took an extract from white tea and put it in test tube cultures containing human cells called preadipocytes. Preadipocytes are cells which ultimately turn into fat cells. Exposure to the white tea extract helped prevent that from happening. In a related experiment, researchers then applied the same solution of white tea extract to fully-mature fat cells and found that the extract actually stimulated fat burning in those cells, ultimately reducing their fat content.

Remember that an increase in body fat actually involves two processes: The first is an increase in the number of fat cells, and the second is an increase in the size of the fat cells themselves. If you think of fat cells as little sponges, the first process would be like getting more sponges, and the second would be like soaking them with more water. The white tea extract affected both processes.

Continue reading Why Exercise Isn't Enough

Why Exercise Isn't Enough

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Photo: Getty Images

What if I were to tell you that exercise is fairly useless for losing weight?

Now before you accuse me of heresy, let me explain. There's no doubt that exercise is one of the best things in the world you can do for your health. It improves mood -- in some studies, as well as antidepressants -- and it's great for your heart. Recent research shows that it even helps you grow new brain cells. And people who exercise on a regular basis have a lower risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

But weight loss? Not so much. Does that seem contrary to everything you've heard? Of course it does -- but don't shoot the messenger. Here's the truth: The exercise/weight-loss equation is way more complicated than we've been led to believe.

Continue reading Exactly What Is a Low-Carb Diet, Anyway?

Exactly What Is a Low-Carb Diet, Anyway?

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

To lose weight and get healthy, get the majority of your carbs from fruits and vegetables.
Photo: [cipher], Flickr

What exactly is a "low-carb" diet, anyway?

Having just finished the revised and expanded edition of my 2004 best-seller "Living Low Carb" (out in January, in case you were interested!), I've been thinking a lot recently about low-carb diets. Specifically, I've been thinking about definitions.

For years, low-carb suffered from bad publicity. Atkins -- a superb nutritionist and very smart guy -- couldn't shake the stigma of recommending "pork rinds" ( a recommendation that was taken out of context), and people who didn't know any better thought his diet forbade all carbohydrates (it most certainly doesn't).

Continue reading Avoid the "Freshman 15"

Avoid the "Freshman 15"

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

Photo: quinn.anya, Flickr

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) recently listed its Top 10 tips for avoiding the Freshman 15. Even if you're not a college freshman, they're worth your attention.

And if you are a college freshman, it's worth noting that one in four freshmen gain at least 5 percent of their body weight (an average of 10 to 15 pounds) during just their first semester. That doesn't mean you have to be in that 25 percent, though. By being proactive, you can significantly reduce the odds that none of your clothes will fit by the time you head home for the holidays!

Here's the essence of what ACE recommends you do:

More Bad News on Fructose

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST

Continue reading More Bad News on Fructose

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Fructose-sweetened dessert
Photo: dizznbonn, Flickr

Unless you've been away from television, newspapers and computers for the last couple of years, you've probably heard that high-fructose corn syrup is bad news. Well, it is.

But it's not just high-fructose corn syrup -- it's fructose as an added sweetener (in any form), and the problem is not just that it contributes to weight gain (which it does, by the way).

Back in 1977, average daily consumption of fructose was about 37 grams per person per day. Recent surveys show that it's up to 54.7 grams, or about 10 percent of total caloric intake. And for teenagers -- who consume a ton of soda -- fructose intake averages a whopping 72.8 grams, the equivalent of 18 spoonfuls of the stuff every single day.

Why should we care?

Continue reading Omega-3s and Weight Loss

Omega-3s and Weight Loss

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Photo: sxc.hu

I've been touting the benefits of omega-3 fats for a long time. They lower triglycerides, improve circulation and cell health, boost mood and decrease inflammation. But can they help with weight loss?

Maybe so. New findings reported in the British Journal of Nutrition found that overweight and obese people have lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids than people with a healthy weight.

"Our findings suggest that (omega-3) fatty acids may play an important role in weight status and abdominal (obesity)," wrote the researchers, led by Professor Monohar Garg from the University of Newcastle, and president elect of the Nutrition Society of Australia.

Other research has shown that omega-3s have a protective role in preventing obesity. "Previous studies involving children and adolescents have shown a negative correlation between adiposity (fatness) and [blood levels] of omega-3s," explained the researchers.

The End of Overeating

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST

Continue reading The End of Overeating

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Photo: Hachimaki, Flickr

Over the last few years, a great deal of information has been uncovered about how the tobacco companies knowingly engineered their cigarettes to become more addictive, usually by adding chemicals to cigarettes that increase the addictiveness of nicotine and keep smokers hooked. What if the food industry was doing the same thing?

According to Dr. David Kessler, that's exactly what food manufacturers have been doing for years, and that's at least partially responsible for the epidemic of overeating and obesity we're now witnessing.

Kessler, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, has written a terrific and compelling book called "The End of Overeating." The book makes several arguments:

Food has been "engineered" to contain various combinations of fat and sugar and salt that have never before been found in the human diet.
These combinations -- particularly fat and sugar together -- are designed to stimulate brain chemistry in a way that makes it virtually impossible to resist these foods (Remember "betcha can't eat just one"?).
These foods "amp up" the neurons in the brain, getting them to fire more. "The message to eat becomes stronger, motivating the eater to act more vigorously in pursuit of the stimulus," he writes.
The most important goal of food "design" is not nutrition but to create a feeling of anticipation and desire by activating the pleasure centers of the brain.
Once the pleasure centers of the brain have been "hijacked" by these foods, our desire for them no longer has anything to do with hunger and more resembles addictive behavior than anything else.

Now there's a lot more to the book than that, and I strongly recommend that you read it. But a few points that Kessler makes are worth mentioning here.

Continue reading Weight Loss is Like the Game of Golf

Weight Loss is Like the Game of Golf

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Photo: chispita_666, Flickr

I am not -- and have never been -- a golfer. Yet on July 30th, I read with great interest Tom Friedman's column in "The New York Times" in which he likened a particular aspect of golf to life itself, in a way that put me in mind of the journey of weight loss. Let me explain.

Friedman was writing about Tom Watson, a 59-year-old phenomena who captured the public imagination when he came within a hair of winning the British Open in a playoff against a world-class golfer more than 20 years his junior. "The way he lost the tournament underscored why golf is the sport most like life," writes Friedman. Apparently, after making two perfect shots on the 18th hole in the final round, the ball bounced a little too hard and ran through the green.

Here's what Friedman had to say about it, and here's why it made me think of weight loss:

"Golf is played on an uneven terrain designed to surprise. Good and bad bounces are built into the essence of the game. And the reason golf is so much like life is that the game -- like life -- is all about how you react to those good and bad bounces. Do you blame your caddy? Do you cheat? Do you throw your clubs? Or do you accept it all with dignity and grace and move on?"

Are you beginning to see where I'm going with this?

Continue reading Fat is the New "Normal"

Fat is the New "Normal"

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Retailers would like to help us remain in a state of denial about our ever-expanding waistlines. They'd like us not to notice how fat we're actually getting.

We don't like facing up to the fact that we're becoming fatter by the minute, and most of us don't particularly like buying "fat clothes." We'd prefer not to notice that those size 8 dresses that used to fit no longer do, or that when we try on those 32-inch waist jeans that used to fit so well, they now feel like they were made for just one of our legs. When that happens, we just don't buy as much. Retailers noticed -- and they have a solution. They changed the sizes.

"In recent years," writes Elizabeth Landau on CNN.com, "brands from the luxury names to the mass retail chains have scaled down the size labels on their clothing," which means "you may actually be a size 14, and, according to whatever particular store you're in, you come out a size 10," says Natalie Nixon, associate professor of fashion industry management at Philadelphia University. Why? Simple. It makes the consumer -- you and me -- feel good.

Continue reading Eco-Atkins - A Vegetarian Low-Carb Diet

Eco-Atkins - A Vegetarian Low-Carb Diet

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

For years I've argued that the Atkins Diet is nowhere near as "dangerous" as critics claim, and dozens of studies have since backed me up. Yet many people continue to worry about the effect of the strict Atkins diet on cholesterol. And many who have noticed how effective an Atkins-like diet can be for weight loss have been reluctant to try it because they associate the diet with a high meat intake (incorrectly, but that's another column).

Worry no more, because a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine received a flurry of media attention, and the subject? A variation of low-carbohydrate dieting which the researchers dubbed "Eco-Atkins."

The researchers start by stating that the Atkins plan has been shown to be effective not only for weight loss, but for reducing insulin resistance, lowering triglyceride concentrations and raising HDL (so-called "good" cholesterol). (They cite numerous published studies which have demonstrated every one of those effects.) That's a pretty impressive resume, and one might be forgiven for asking, "and the problem is?"

Continue reading Vitamin D Helps With Weight Loss

Vitamin D Helps With Weight Loss

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

People whose vitamin D levels test high before they go on a diet experience significantly better results on that diet than people with low levels of vitamin D, according to a new study, suggesting that vitamin D plays a part in weight loss and that increasing your intake of this incredibly important nutrient just might help you drop additional pounds.

We already know that vitamin D deficiency is associated with obesity, but it's not clear which comes first -- are people obese because of inadequate vitamin D or does obesity cause vitamin D levels in the body to somehow drop?

In the current study, presented at the Endocrine Society's 91st annual meeting in Washington DC, researchers measured blood levels of vitamin D in 38 overweight men and women before putting them on a calorie-restricted diet for 11 weeks. Here's what they found: Higher levels of vitamin D predicted greater success on the weight-loss diet.

Continue reading Modest Carb Cutting Can Boost Weight Loss

Modest Carb Cutting Can Boost Weight Loss

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

Photo: a.drian, Flickr

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Even a modest reduction in carb intake might be enough to stabilize blood sugar, reduce insulin and, in the long-run, facilitate weight loss, says a new study from the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Dr. Barbara Gower, coauthor of the study, says, "There has been great public interest in low-carbohydrate diets for weight loss, but they are difficult to maintain, in part because of the drastic reduction in carbohydrates."

Well, we can quibble about the difficult to maintain part -- many low-carbers feel it's the easiest program they've ever been on once they get used to it -- but let's admit that many people do find the idea of giving up high-carb foods daunting, to say the least.

Corn Flakes For Breakfast? Think Again!

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST

Continue reading Corn Flakes For Breakfast? Think Again!

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Photo: TheBusyBrain, Flickr

I've ranted about high sugar cereals for years. Even those masquerading as "healthy" cereals are usually high-glycemic (meaning they raise blood sugar quickly), and they contribute to weight gain, cravings and ultimately, lower energy.

And most of these cereals are fiber lightweights, despite the fact that we're constantly being sold on the notion of cereals as "high fiber" foods. With the exception of Fiber One, UltraFiber, Bran Flakes and a few others, most commercial cereals only contain a gram or two of fiber, which is one of the reasons they're so "high glycemic" in the first place.

Now a new study has shown that high-glycemic foods like cornflakes are not only bad for the waistline -- they're also bad for the heart.

Continue reading Eating Slow to Stay Slim

Eating Slow to Stay Slim

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Photo: imagesniper/Flickr

People who wolf down their food are more likely to be overweight and suffer from digestive problems. Here are some tips from the Life Extension Foundation (an organization dedicated to exploring ways to live long and healthy lives naturally), expanded on by me, to help you not do that!

Stop eating before you feel full. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for your digestive system to tell your brain that you've had enough. The gut sends a little hormone called CCK to the brain to deliver the message "dude, you're full!" It takes a while to arrive -- if you stop eating before you feel full, you'll do just fine. Remember, one of the longest-lived societies in the world has a saying: hara hachi bu, which means "step away from the table when you're about 75% full."

Turn utensils into allies. Make a habit of putting down your fork or spoon after each bite; don't pick it up again until you've swallowed. If you're eating hand-held foods, place them on your plate between bites. This helps you with No. 1 (above), giving CCK more time to make the journey to the brain.

Plums - The Undiscovered Superfood

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EST

Continue reading Plums - The Undiscovered Superfood

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

With all the marketing hooplah over superfoods like acai, goji and noni, we tend to forget that some of the best superfoods on the planet are right under our noses and don't cost an arm and a leg (like some of these overpriced multi-level marketed juice drinks do). And the latest hero to emerge on the superstar galaxy is, get ready for this: Plums. Yup, plums.

Food scientist Dr. Luis Cisneros and plant breeder David Byrne judged more than 100 varieties of plums, peaches and nectarines and found them to match (or even exceed) the highly valued blueberries in antioxidants and phytonutrients. According to Byrne, one inexpensive plum contains about the same amount of antioxidants as a handful of blueberries.

Your Hidden Food Allergies - Are They Making You Fat?

Jonny Bowden — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EST

Continue reading Your Hidden Food Allergies - Are They Making You Fat?

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Having trouble losing weight just by counting calories? You're not alone. And one of the reasons might be that you have some undiscovered food sensitivities.

According to a new study from Dubai, patients unable to lose weight were largely helped when they avoided foods that had been shown to excite their immune response. The authors, led by Dr. M. Akmal of the Dubai Specialized Medical Centre, pointed out that hidden food allergies, or food sensitivities, are unique to each individual and can cause inflammatory diseases, and an inability to lose weight.

Food sensitivities often provoke delayed and chronic symptoms, like irritable bowel syndrome, migraine and arthritis, that are not as obvious as the dramatic and immediate onset of "true" food allergies, such as peanut anaphylaxis. But over the long term, these reactions can be just as devastating and are more difficult to detect.