YzFit

What a healthy diet should look like: Inside and outside of the body!

Erectile Dysfunction is a predictor of mortality and cardiovascular disease. The study was published yesterday in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. 1549 cardiovascular patients underwent a double-blind in 13 countries, they reported 16.2% of ED patients died from cardiovascular problems, suffered heart attacks or strokes, or were hospitalized for heart failure. Only 10.3% of men with no or mild ED had similar outcomes.

ED is closely associated with conditions that occur in atherosclerosis and vascular problems, such as plaque buildup, which often precedes heart attacks and strokes.
photo credit: Nevada Tumbleweed

Metabolic syndrome is a widespread issue among Americans—47 million Americans have it. It’s not actually a disease. It is a combination of health issues that can lead to some of the top health concerns in our country today. Metabolic syndrome is the combination of high blood pressure, poor cholesterol levels, high blood sugar, and abdominal fat. This combination is particularly dangerous because it doubles the risk of blood vessel and heart disease, which lead to stroke and heart attack. It also increases the risk for diabetes by five times. How do you know if you are at risk? According to WebMD, these are the risk factors that lead to metabolic syndrome.
• Large waist size: 40 inches or larger for men, and 35 inches or larger for women.
• Cholesterol—high triglycerides: 150 mg/dL or higher or if you are taking a cholesterol medicine.
• Cholesterol—low good (HDL) cholesterol: less than 40 mg/dL for men, and less than 50 mg/dL for women, or you are taking a cholesterol medication.
• High blood pressure: BP above 130/85 mm Hg or you are taking a blood pressure medication.
• High blood sugar: fasting glucose level is above 100 mg/dL.
You are considered to have metabolic syndrome if you have 3 or more of these risk factors. Fortunately, there are lifestyle changes you can make to decrease your risks. Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly helps many people reduce their risks.
photo credit: jasleen_kaur

Some people skip breakfast in an effort to lose weight, but this practice is more likely to cause a weight gain. Eating breakfast actually reduces your overall calorie intake. Studies have shown that thinner adults, adolescents and children are more likely to eat breakfast than their overweight counterparts. Skipping breakfast makes weight control more difficult because it makes snacking harder to resist and skippers typically eat larger meals during the rest of the day to compensate for their hunger. Some studies have shown that people who eat fewer, larger meals tend to accumulate more body fat. Eating breakfast also improves your performance during the day. Sometimes teens, especially girls, will skip breakfasts to lose weight. It is important for parents to educate their children on the importance of eating breakfast and its role in maintaining good health and preventing obesity. It’s also very important for children to eat breakfast instead of sleeping in. Studies show that kids who skip breakfast are tardy and absent from school more than kids who eat breakfast. If you still don’t have time to make breakfast for your kids, consider enrolling them in a school breakfast program. Remember—eating breakfast is important no matter what your age!
photo credit: lepiaf.geo

Many people have bought into the Atkins Diet mindset—thinking that carbs are bad for you. Well, good news! You can dig into a bowl of pasta without guilt! New data from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois suggests that a substance called glutamic acid found in grains may be good for your heart. They found that people who consumed more of this amino acid had lower blood pressure. Other foods also contain this particular amino acid, but to a much lesser degree. A cup of macaroni has five times more glutamic acid than broccoli. Pasta also contains more calories, so to get the most nutrition for the calories, eat whole grains. Look for whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and whole grain breads. Whole grains also contain significant amounts of fiber and B vitamins, which are also good for your heart and your digestion. Whole grains keep your energy levels more stable than refined carbs.
photo credit: visualpanic

A question that I seem to get often is “are there any safe appetite suppressants?”  And usually there is an advertisement that they have read or some bizarre herbal remedy that is supposed to cure all their weight issues with by taking a pill.

However, while I do not suggest any of those products or herbal remedies; (in fact I would suggest that you will benefit your body more if you run in the opposite direction) but there is one natural appetite suppressant that occurs naturally in apples.  Apples have a lot of phytochemicals that benefit the body and they just happen to help suppress the appetite a bit.  In college I had an interesting discovery.   I could buy a large Fugi Apple(my favorite) and a orange from the grocery store and if I ate the orange first I could then finish off the apple or at least be close to it. However, if i ate the apple first I would feel full enough that I wouldn’t feel hungry enough to want to peel the orange.

Now granted I would pick out the largest Fugi apple I could find because they were my favorite.  But I would find it would hold me over if I didn’t have time to go and get lunch till much later in the day.  Later one of my wellness professors talked about the benefits of doing an “apple fast” to reset the metabolism for a day.  While I don’t think I’ll be signing up for an apple fast anytime soon I think the old saying has more benefits than we give it credit.  An apple a day keeps the doctor away.  While it may not keep the doctor away you my find that it has a positive impact on the waist line over time.
photo credit: leoncillo sabino

A recent United Nations report by their top climate scientist, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, concluded that people should eat less meat to combat global warming. It is estimated that meat production accounts for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. To put this in perspective, transportation accounts for about 13% of emissions. Changing what you eat could have an impact on climate change. Dr. Pachauri said, “But if we’re honest, less meat is also good for the health, and would also at the same time reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.” In response to this report, the Belgian city of Ghent has instituted a weekly meatless day, making it the first city in the world to go vegetarian for environmental reasons. Civil servants and elected officials are going meatless every Thursday in the hope that Ghent can reduce its environmental footprint. Schools are also going to have their own veggie day in September. As a bonus, veggie day tackles obesity as well. The city of Ghent is printing 90,000 “veggie street maps” for locating vegetarian eateries around the city.

photocredit:srqpix

The Great Wall of ChocolateTM
• Calories per serving: 1,440
• Fat: 61g
• Saturated fat: 20g
• Sodium: 1,120mg
• Carbs: 231g
• Protein: 10g
Banana Spring Rolls
• Calories per serving: 992
• Fat: 45g
• Saturated fat: 23g
• Sodium: 480mg
• Carbs: 145g
• Protein: 15g
New York-Style Cheesecake
• Calories per serving: 870
• Fat: 56g
• Saturated fat: 35g
• Sodium: 620mg
• Carbs: 70g
• Protein: 16g

Flourless Chocolate Dome
• Calories per serving: 440
• Fat: 26g
• Saturated fat: 8g
• Sodium: 290mg
• Carbs: 52g
• Protein: 7g

Mini Desserts
The small size of these desserts makes them a much healthier choice. The lowest calorie choice is the mini apple pie.
• Calories per serving: 127-268
• Fat: 4-17g
• Saturated fat: 1-9g
• Sodium: 30-184mg
• Carbs: 17-44g
• Protein: 1-4g
photo credit: gsloan

Having a big breakfast can help carry you through the day and can even aid in weight loss. Make sure you get the most out of the calories you have for breakfast, or it could backfire on you. A breakfast that includes carbs and lean protein and comes in around 600 calories is the best for losing weight.
A sausage, egg and cheese sandwich with a latte packs 1,140 calories and 54 grams of fat. These are the culprits:
• Medium vanilla latte: 330 calories
• Bagel with cheese baked in: 340 calories, 6 grams fat
• Sausage: 210 calories, 20 grams fat
• Butter: 100 calories, 12 grams fat
Healthy alternatives for a big breakfast:
• 2 Kashi GoLean Strawberry Flax waffles with 2 tbsp. peanut butter on them, 1 banana, 8 ounces of skim milk: 539 calories, 20 grams fat
• Mexican omelet (2 eggs, ¼ cup shredded mozzarella, 4 tbsp. chunky salsa), 1 whole wheat English muffin, 1 orange, small nonfat cappuccino: 527 calories, 17 grams fat
• Parfait (6 oz. nonfat Greek yogurt, ¼ cup Bear Naked Apple Cinnamon granola, ¼ cup raw almonds, 1 cup berries), coffee with skim milk: 535 calories, 24 grams fat

Source: Beware the 1.140-Calorie Breakfast! Glamour Magazine, September 2009
photo credit: orangeacid

As the U.S. continues to face an obesity crisis due to a lack of healthy diets, Dr. Sean Kenniff reports on a West African berry which makes healthy foods such as spinach or broccoli taste like candy.


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