Lose Weight And Keeping It Off
November 30th, 2008Greetings…
Has this ever happened to you…you work really hard to lose
weight, which you have achieved, but have a difficult time
keeping the weight off. This has happened to me too many times,
and today I featured great tips to follow to keep lose weight
and how to keep it off. Really, there are some great tips
in it!!
Be Well,
Kris
HOLIDAY TIP: Tips to Lose Weight And Keep It Off
* Eat only when hungry.
* When eating at home, take smaller portions than
usual; go back for more if you are still hungry.
* When eating out, ask for a to-go box at the
beginning of the meal and put half of the food in
the box before you start eating.
* If you decide to splurge on a donut or pastry, throw
half of it away before you start eating. “What’s more
important ; half a donut or your health?” Shade said.
* When snacking, don’t eat from a large container (a big
bowl of popcorn or a large bag of chips, for example).
Instead, remove the amount you will eat and put the
container away before you start.
* Eat at home. Studies show that meals consumed at home
are usually lower in calories than restaurant meals.
* Don’t eat in front of the television. Studies show that
people eat larger amounts and less-nutritious foods in
front of the tube.
* Eat smaller but more-frequent meals to avoid becoming
ravenous between meals, which can lead to eating too much
too fast.
* Include at least one non-starchy fruit or vegetable
serving in every meal or snack.
* Choose whole grains over refined grains (whole-grain bread
versus white bread, for example) because whole grains are
more nutritious and satisfying.
* Avoid beverages with empty calories such as soft drinks and
“juice drinks,” which are mostly sugar.
* Avoid “fancy” blended, sweetened coffee drinks and instead
choose a latte with nonfat or low-fat milk.
* Get plenty of sleep. Studies indicate that sleep loss increases
the levels hormones such as cortisol, growth hormone and insulin,
which can promote fat storage.
*
Steroids can cause infant brain cell death
ST. LOUIS, — Some drugs used in premature babies and in
pregnant women at risk for preterm deliveries can kill infant
brain cells, research by U.S. scientists shows. The study
indicated the class of steroid drugs, glucocorticoids, often
used to help underdeveloped lungs in premature infants,
irreversibly damaged baby mice’s brain cells in the cerebel-
lum, the area responsible for coordination and balance, USA
Today reported. In the study, brain cells in mice died after
treatments administered four to 10 days after birth, said
study author Kevin Noguchi, a post-doctoral fellow at Wash-
ington University School of Medicine. In human babies, the
period would be from about 20 weeks in the womb to six weeks
after birth, he said. Noguchi said other studies indicate a
synthetic steroid — dexamethasone — causes motor and cog-
nitive problems in children. The authors said the toxic
effects don’t seem to affect the brains of older babies,
children and adults, USA Today reported. “Our studies in
mice suggest that once a human infant is a few months old,
these drugs — which are used for other medical conditions,
too — don’t appear to have this type of toxic effect,” co-
author Nuri Farber said.
*
FDA opens offices in China
WASHINGTON, — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration opened
three offices in China this week as part of an effort to
improve the safety of food imported from the Asian nation.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and
FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach are traveling to the
offices in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai to meet with manu-
facturers and Chinese government officials to discuss policy
and governance reforms. “We’re opening up a new era, not
just new offices,” Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday. “By
having a presence in other parts of the world, we can work
more closely with manufacturers and other governments, better
share best practices and further ensure that quality and
safety are built into food and consumer products at the point
of manufacture.” The FDA also is working to establish a pres-
ence in India, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East,
the agency said.
*
States, Congress to seek anti-BPA laws
MILWAUKEE, — U.S. federal and state lawmakers say they
would work to ban the chemical bisphenol A from food and
beverage containers. Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., said
he plans to re-introduce a bill when the 111th Congress
convenes in January to ban BPA from food and beverage con-
tainers, citing an analysis conducted by the Milwaukee Jour-
nal Sentinel, the newspaper reported Tuesday. The Journal
Sentinel measured the amounts of the chemical released after
heating, and used the information to calculate how much BPA
children of various ages and weights would consume if they
were to eat from the containers. The newspaper reported all
10 products it tested leaked toxic doses of the chemical
when heated. “This test of ‘microwave safe’ containers adds
to the already vast and compelling body of knowledge indica-
ting that BPA is dangerous and unsuitable for all food and
beverage containers,” Markey said. The Journal Sentinel
found 17 studies in which scientists looked at levels of BPA
exposure in live laboratory animals that showed harmful
effects. In addition to Congress, 13 states have proposed
bans on BPA. Wisconsin is not one of them.
*
Stem cells used in trachea transplant
BARCELONA, Spain, — The first successful human windpipe
transplant using the patient’s stem cells was completed in
Spain, physicians at four European universities announced.
One physician said the procedure’s success indicated “we are
on the verge of a new age in surgical care,” The New York
Times reported on its Web site Wednesday. Physicians at uni-
versities in Spain, England and Italy helped in preparing
the donor trachea with the adult patient’s stem cells before
the June operation in Barcelona, the Times said. The opera-
tion was necessary to help alleviate the patient’s severe
shortness of breath following tuberculosis. Doctors and sci-
entists stripped the trachea from an anonymous donor of all
the donor’s cells then added the patient’s stem cells before
the transplant, the physicians said in their article in the
journal The Lancet. Martin Birchall, a professor at Bristol
University in Britain, said the transplant showed “the very
real potential for adult stem cells and tissue engineering
to radically improve their ability to treat patients with
serious diseases. We believe this success has proved that
we are on the verge of a new age in surgical care.” Univer-
sity of Barcelona’s Paolo Macchiarini, who performed the
operation, said he was excited by the results. “Just four
days after transplantation the graft was almost indisting-
uishable from adjacent normal bronchi,” Macchiarini said.
*
Birth defects, fertility techniques linked
ATLANTA, — Infants conceived using fertility clinic tech-
niques are more likely to have certain birth defects than
infants conceived naturally, a U.S. study indicates. The
findings applied to single births only and included heart
problems, cleft lip or palate, and abnormalities in the eso-
phagus or rectum, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The
conditions are rare, generally occurring no more than once
in 700 births, so the risk was still low even with fertility
treatments, the study by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention in Atlanta indicated. The procedures that
increased the risk were techniques, such as in vitro ferti-
lization, that require working with sperm and eggs outside
of the body, researchers said. The study did not include
women who only took fertility drugs. “I think it is impor-
tant for couples to consider the fact that there may be a
risk for birth defects,” said Jennita Reefhuis, a CDC epi-
demiologist and lead author of the study. Dr. Alan R. -
Fleischman, March of Dimes vice president and medical direc-
tor, said Reefhuis’s work was “confirmatory of the direction
we have been concerned about, an increase in some structural
birth defects in babies born with assisted reproductive tech-
niques compared to those born without such. And yet the num-
bers are still small, the risks are low.”
*
New Clues to the Cause of Epilepsy
Epilepsy, or its effects, has been known for countless
generations. At times in history those with epilepsy were
considered inhabited by demons, at other times sufferers
were considered blessed. The disorder remains a medical
mystery. Though sufferers know the official name of their
condition it was not known with certainty what causes the
problem. Many causes have been included in as possibilities,
genetics, disease, injury, or developmental problems. With
out a clear cause scientists can treat the symptoms of the
disease, but they cannot offer prevention.
A new study released in the November 23rd issue of Nature
Medicine may give new insight into the cause of the disease
and help in search for a preventative. According to the
study, the interaction of white blood cells and blood
vessels may contribute to seizures. The white blood cells
known as leukocytes are part of the immune system that
should protect the body from bacteria, viruses, and
infections. Researchers from the University of Verona in
Italy, demonstrated, in mice, seizures caused “sticky”
molecules in blood vessels in the brain to attach to white
blood cells and cause inflammation. According to Gabriela
Constantin of the University of Verona, “We found a lot of
inflammation in this process in the generation of a new
seizure.” When the interaction was interrupted by
“unsticking” the cells it helped to prevent the development
of epilepsy in mice. The research also found that there
were more leukocytes present in the brains of people with
epilepsy than present in healthy individuals. This data
indicates that epilepsy could be an immune system disorder
and if further study confirms this interaction it may
provide a target for treatments and prevention.
“This mechanism was not previously suspected in epilepsy,”
according to Constantin.
The results mean that some modern antibody drugs which are
designed to modify the immune system and used to treat other
diseases could help fight epilepsy. Many of the medications
currently used to treat the debilitating symptoms of epilepsy
have significant side effects including mood changes that
could lead to suicidal thoughts. If drugs with fewer side
effects could be used to treat or prevent the condition it
would be a significant breakthrough in treatment.
As with all research conducted with animals, it is not
known if the findings will have the same results in humans.
