Nutrition

Consumer Protection Article by Nutritionist Josh Bezoni

Every where you look these days—whether it be the T.V., Internet, or in magazines—new diet pills are popping up like weeds in a garden.

It gets so confusing that a lot of people tend to “throw out the baby with the bath water” and assume that ALL flab-burning products are a waste of time.

But the TRUTH is, some quality products contain ingredients that are backed by real clinical studies. In other words, a few rare products actually work.

We will be talking more about those later, but for now, I want to start by protecting your health (and wallet) by exposing some of the “deadly sins” many diet pills companies are pulling every chance they get.

Deadly Sin #1:
Products disguised to look like
prescription weight loss medications.

Diet pills are supplements; they are not medications. If they were, you’d have to get a prescription to buy them. Many companies try to make their products look and sound like medications in an attempt to trick you into thinking they are prescription-strength. They figure this way you’ll think the pills are more powerful and will pay more for them.

There is currently a pill just like this being advertised on TV and radio. The cost? $150 for the exact same type of cheap, ineffective product you can get at your local grocery store for $9. People think products like these must work if they are that expensive and sound like a medicine. They are wrong.

The truth is, companies like these often hire actors to pose as doctors and customers. These actors hold up large pants and say how much weight they lost when they really didn’t lose any weight at all. They’re ripping us off. If these products were really so amazing, why would the companies have to deceive us by making the products look like medications when they’re not?

Deadly Sin #2:
Diet pills that make you feel jittery,
anxious, depressed, or hungry.

Products like these can cause stress, which leads to emotional overeating and weight gain. They can also negatively impact your health in the long run. Listen to what your body is trying to tell you.

Deadly Sin #3:
Questionable product endorsements.

If you wouldn’t trust a celebrity to babysit your child, don’t trust her advice about a product. Celebrities and doctors are for hire. And, guess what? You’re paying their salaries when you purchase the products they’re pushing.

Deadly Sin #4:
Diet pills that make outrageous claims.

It’s true that the best diet pills are backed by science. However, no diet product can help you lose 30 pounds in 30 days. Nonsense. If you’re following a quality eating and exercise program and taking scientifically backed weight loss nutrients to speed up the results, you can expect to lose anywhere from eight to 12 pounds per month, depending on how much you have to lose, your age, body chemistry, commitment to the program, and a variety of other factors. However, there are ways to speed up these results BIG TIME. We’ll talk more about this soon.

Deadly Sin #5:
Diet products that are not backed by
a 100 percent money-back guarantee.

Oh, and also make sure this guarantee lasts long enough that you can actually try the product before it expires (I recommend at least a YEAR). This way if the product doesn’t work, your bank account doesn’t take the hit. After all, if a company isn’t confident in their product, why should you be? (Always be sure to read the fine print.)

Deadly Sin #6:
Diet pills that contain token amounts
of everything but effective amounts of nothing.

Some diet pills may contain trace amounts of scientifically backed ingredients, but this is only a technicality because they cut corners and only put tiny amounts of these ingredients in the pills—not enough to have a positive effect. This is akin to trying to make a loaf of bread with only a tablespoon of flour.

Look for products that list the amounts of every ingredient on the labels instead of hiding the ingredients in proprietary blends. Then search online to make sure the amounts listed in the products match those recommended by studies.

Deadly Sin #7:
Products that are not tested by independent,
third-party laboratories.

This is the only way to ensure they contain what their labels say. Here’s something you may not know: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not test supplements to verify the validity of their labels. The scope of this watchdog organization is limited to foods and drugs, which does not include dietary supplements.

So who does make sure that diet pills contain what their labels say and don’t contain any of the bad stuff? Well, it’s up to the manufacturing companies to monitor their own products. But most don’t. So in all reality, some shameless company fills their pills with worthless ingredients and charge you 20, 30, 40, or 50 (or more) bucks a bottle for it. Can you believe it? Some companies are cutting corners and padding their wallets by cheating their customers out of the products they’re paying for. It’s a scam, plain and simple.

Arm yourself with these tips and remember… buyer beware.

By Rachel Meltzer Warren

How Your Favorite Foods Can Help You Lose

 

I recently came across this study published in 2006 in the Journal of Medicinal Food, titled “The effects of grapefruit on weight and insulin resistance“… the study measured results after 12 weeks of 91 obese patients broken down into a placebo group, a group that received a half of a fresh grapefruit before each meal (3x a day), a group that received an 8 oz glass of grapefruit juice before each meal, and a group that received a grapefruit capsule before each meal.

The results were interesting…

It turned out that grapefruit before a meal DID in fact increase fat loss, with the fresh grapefruit group losing the most weight, although even the grapefruit juice group and the grapefruit capsule group lost more than the placebo group.

The study concluded, “There was also a significant reduction in 2-hour post-glucose insulin level in the grapefruit group compared with placebo. Half of a fresh grapefruit eaten before meals was associated with significant weight loss. Insulin resistance was improved with fresh grapefruit.”

It’s interesting to note that the fresh grapefruit improved insulin sensitivity, thereby helping to control insulin and blood sugar levels, despite the carbohydrates contained in the grapefruit.  This is similar to the results I showed you in this article where pre-meal lemon juice was also shown to control the blood sugar response from a meal…yet another example of a citrus fruit improving insulin sensitivity.

I would also venture a guess that this result might also be seen in fresh squeezed lime juice, but I have not seen any studies on this as of yet.

Carbs are a hot topic. Everyone’s eating them first thing in the morning, or cycling them, some people are going anabolic — having carbs just on the weekend — and still others are having just one Carb Nite® a week. But why isn’t anybody back-loading?

Not everyone’s concerned about their carbs, as some people eat them at-will without affecting strength, muscle mass or waistline. That’s not me. It’s not most of the people I work with. Like them, I want all the benefits carbs have to offer without the disadvantages; I want to get muscular and stay lean; or get muscular and get lean. That’s why I discovered back-loading, the best dietary method to achieve both at once.

One thing the industry has realized over the past few years is that carbs need to be cycled for goals beyond day-to-day leaving. Losing weight, building muscle and increasing endurance benefit from cycling carbs; making weight for a powerlifting meet benefits from cycling carbs; even trying to tighten up for wedding photos benefits from cycling carbs. For cosmetic purposes, the formula is well established, and my first book represents a precise and effective version.

Why all this fuss over carbs? Carbs cause hormonal and metabolic changes in the body beyond the capability of any other nutrient and if a pharmaceutical company discovered carbs today, glucose would probably cost $100 per gram. Eating carbs regulates growth in the body directly and indirectly by affecting over a dozen hormones. There is wisdom in spending so much time deciphering the perfect carb-intake formula for various goals.

The one formula that’s eluded the industry is how to gain muscle while minimizing fat, or even possibly losing fat. I’ve seen this claim many times in many magazines and on many websites for various workout and diet plans. Most fit under the philosophy of, “do ridiculous workouts that last hours and eat very little.” A couple noticeable exceptions exist: Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale’s Anabolic Diet and Shelby Starnes’ concept of carb cycling. Programs similar to these two exist (my Carb Nite® diet is a refined version of the Anabolic Diet), but all float the concept that carbs should be cycled on a day-to-day or weekly basis. Recent research contradicts these strategies for gaining muscle. The body needs two things everyday to grow muscle, a lot of calories and a lot of carbs.

I’ve eaten a lot of calories and a lot of carbs everyday while training and I did grow muscle, but I also got fat. The current school of nutrient timing says eat most of your carbs early in the day and few at night. So I switched to eating most of my carbs first thing in the morning and fewer with each meal until bedtime. Again, I gained muscle and got fat. At this point, I was frustrated as hell. It took me a few years to learn how exercise changes skeletal muscle at the cellular level and how to use this information to time carbohydrates during the day for muscular gains and fat obliteration.

Ingesting carbs—most types of carbs—releases insulin, the body’s utmost signaler of growth. Insulin sensitivity is highest in the morning and, as it’s often understood, this means that cells of the body absorb carbs better in the morning than the evening. Thought of in this way, only skeletal muscle and fat cells matter, as most other tissue—nervous system cells, kidneys, the liver, the small intestines, etc—can use carbs with or without insulin. Fat and muscle respond stronger to insulin levels in the morning than the evening.

It is true that eating carbs in the morning allows both fat and muscle to grow more than eating carbs at night. But exercise changes this. Exercise changes everything, even the way skeletal muscle responds to insulin and blood sugar. Resistance training triggers two important changes in muscle tissue regarding carb metabolism. First, heavy resistance training increases sensitivity to insulin in muscle for up to 48 hours post-workout. Second, for a few hours post-workout, muscle cells can use carbs without insulin.

Resistance training, therefore, dissects the day into pre- and post-workout, expanding these concepts from the hour before and after training to the part of the day before training and the part of the day after.

Imagine waiting until 3 or 4 in the evening to lift. Not eating carbs up to this point, neither fat nor muscle has had much of a signal to grow. After training, the consumption of carbs begins en masse, starting with the post-workout shake containing copious amounts of a simple carbohydrate powder. A massive growth signal ensues, but in the evening after lifting, only muscle can take advantage of the signal and not body fat. This effect continues on through the night until bedtime. No more back-fat growth; no more beer-belly expansion; no more second chin. Back-loading carbs in the day tunes the body to grow primarily muscle.

The pre-workout part of my day consists, for me, of ultra-low carb. I consume 30 grams or less of carbohydrates in the first half of the day, excluding fiber. Some people can handle more, and I’ve worked with people who can eat up to 100 grams spread over three to four meals before the training session. I am not one of these people, and before experimenting, I suggesting starting at the 30 gram level or less.

After training, the only meal I keep low-fat is my post-workout shake, which is zero fat. It contains 50 grams of protein, 100 grams of a glucose-based carb powder with no other caloric nutrients. Otherwise, the latter half of the day is filled with high-carb meals, but not necessarily low-fat. The sharp spike in metabolism that accompanies the rush of carbs helps burn the dietary fat through the hours of sleep.

If muscle gets the largest signal to grow after the workout, what’s happening before and during the workout without all the carbs?  That’s a fair question. Without dietary modification, before lifting, the body balances the anabolic and catabolic signals within skeletal muscle. To shift this signal in favor of anabolic signaling requires regular ingestion of a fast-absorbing protein, such as whey or casein hydrolysate, together with a few grams of the branched-chain amino acid leucine.

During the workout, glycogen stores and ketone metabolism fuel muscles. As long as glycogen reserves stay full, there’s plenty of fuel for lifting without compromising muscle tissue. Keeping carb stores full is one of the primary goals of the post-workout feedings.

Back-loading carbs runs against every dietary recommendation to guarantee a solid, strong workout. The body needs carbs to lift heavy, or so the advice goes. In most situations, assuming adequate nightly carb intake, strength, nevertheless, increases when back-loading carbs. This may sound counter-intuitive but not when considering the drug-like effects of carbs.

Optimum strength is a balance between muscle size and neural efficiency. On a daily basis, muscular size can be taken as constant. Neural efficiency depends on several factors that are daily considerations and even hourly, such as the ingesting of carbs, which actually puts a stress on the body, knocking it from homeostatis.

Carbs can be one of the strongest disruptions of homeostatis, so if meal timing isn’t exact come workout time (along with a myriad of other factors) not only is the body fighting against the iron, but it’s fighting to achieve balance. Carb timing—or mistiming—may be the most common cause of a crappy workout and missed lifts.

Too many grams of carbs may be consumed too close to training time, causing a hyperglycaemic state in which nervous system cells begin firing inefficiently, blowing through calcium reserves. Too few carbs and glycaemic distress occurs, sweat starts pouring despite chills and strength dissipates. As a result, assuming glycogen stores were sufficiently replenished the night before, strength often increases and stabilizes—is more consistent from day to day—when forgoing carbs before lifting.

Granted, back-loading carbs requires effort. I have a flexible schedule, as do most of the athletes I work with, which makes planning the day around diet and workout feasible and necessary. Maximum gains require planning life around training. But it’s not always possible to get a training session in at 3 or 4 pm. Maybe training time is 7pm. Used with resistance training, no matter what time during the day, back-loading carbs always provides maximum anabolic signals to the muscle, while increasing fat burning, even if post-workout doesn’t occur until 9pm.

There’s a lot to consider and I understand not wanting to go through with all that’s required, but the payoff, for those who accept the challenge, is high. In the past two decades, after working with countless athletes at all levels, back-loading carbs is the only dietary technique I’ve seen that consistently produces strength and muscle gains while limiting—and sometimes even eliminating—body fat.

Sweet Surprise or Health Demise?

— By Becky Hand, Licensed & Registered Dietitian

Is there something unique about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) that could lead to weight gain or health problems? Does your body really know the difference between corn syrup, sugar and other sweeteners? That may depend on who you ask. Some people think it’s different and prefer to avoid it. Others say that it’s no different than other sugars, but we should be limiting our intake of all sugars anyway. So either way, most people think it’s good to cut back on all sweeteners, regardless of type.

I once believed that HFCS was different, and therefore a key player in the obesity crisis. But after reviewing the published, peer-reviewed scientific research on HFCS, today my view is different. Read on to find out whether high fructose corn syrup deserves its bad rap and how it really compares with regular sugar.

What is High Fructose Corn Syrup?
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a calorie-providing sweetener used to sweeten foods and beverages, particularly processed and store-bought foods. It is made by an enzymatic process from glucose syrup that is derived from corn. A relatively new food ingredient, it was first produced in Japan in the late 1960s, then entered the American food supply system in the early 1970s. HFCS is a desirable food ingredient for food manufacturers because it is equally as sweet as table sugar, blends well with other foods, helps foods to maintain a longer shelf life, and is less expensive (due to government subsidies on corn) than other sweeteners. It can be found in a variety of food products including soft drinks, salad dressings, ketchup, jams, sauces, ice cream and even bread.

There are two types of high fructose corn syrup found in foods today:

• HFCS-55 (the main form used in soft drinks) contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose.
• HFCS-42 (the main form used in canned fruit in syrup, ice cream, desserts, and baked goods) contains 42% fructose and 58% glucose.

Sugar & High Fructose Corn Syrup
Table sugar (also called sucrose) and HFCS both consist of two simple sugars: fructose and glucose. The proportion of fructose and glucose in HFCS is basically the same ratio as table sugar, which is made of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Both sweeteners contain the same number of calories (4 calories per gram).

But the fructose and glucose in table sugar are chemically bonded together, and the body must first digest sugar to break these bonds before the body can absorb the fructose and glucose into the bloodstream. In contrast, the fructose and glucose found in HFCS are merely blended together, which means it doesn’t need to be digested before it is metabolized and absorbed into the bloodstream. Because of this, theories abound that HFCS has a greater impact on blood glucose levels than regular sugar (sucrose). However, research has shown that there are no significant differences between HFCS and sugar (sucrose) when it comes to the production of insulin, leptin (a hormone that regulates body weight and metabolism), ghrelin (the “hunger” hormone), or the changes in blood glucose levels. In addition, satiety studies done on HFCS and sugar (sucrose) have found no difference in appetite regulation, feelings of fullness, or short-term energy intake. How can that be?

Well, the body digests table sugar very rapidly, too. And both HFCS and table sugar (sucrose) enter the bloodstream as glucose and fructose—the metabolism of which is identical. There is no significant difference in the overall rate of absorption between table sugar and HFCS, which explains why these two sweeteners have virtually the same effects on the body.

HFCS and Obesity
HFCS hit the food industry in the late 1970s, right when the waistlines of many Americans began to expand. During this time, many diet and activity factors where changing in society. It is a well-researched fact that the current obesity crisis is very much a multi-faceted problem. The American Medical Association (AMA) has extensively examined the available research on HFCS and obesity. This organization has publicly stated that, to date, there is nothing unique about HFCS that causes obesity. It does not appear to contribute more to obesity than any other type of caloric sweetener. However, the AMA does encourage more research on this topic.

But Is It Natural?
High fructose corn syrup has received a lot of blame and bad press lately. Recent marketing campaigns funded by the Corn Refiners Association have tried to improve the reputation of high fructose corn syrup, calling it “natural” among other things. However, it’s important to note that the word “natural” doesn’t mean much. This common food-labeling term is NOT regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Let’s face it: Neither table sugar nor HFCS would exist without human interaction and processing. You cannot just go to a field and squeeze corn syrup out of corn or sugar out of sugar beets or sugarcane. “Natural” or not, too much sweet stuff can’t be good for you—even if it comes from what you might think of as natural sweeteners like honey, agave syrup (which is also highly refined and actually higher in fructose than HFCS) or raw sugar.

What about Fructose?
Much of the research cited to demonize HFCS is done specifically on fructose. But as we’ve already learned, fructose is just one component of HFCS, and it is found in table sugar and other sweeteners, too. Fructose also occurs naturally in fresh, whole fruits. So when a study comes out saying that increased “fructose” consumption leads to health problems, weight gain, cancer or other problems, that doesn’t mean that those findings can be applied specifically to HFCS—or to any other fructose-containing food or sweetener. Put simply, what happens in a lab or in animal tests cannot be applied to humans, and definitely doesn’t imply you’d have the same outcome (weight gain, cancer, etc.) by consuming other foods or sweeteners of which fructose is a component.

There is some emerging research showing that high intakes of fructose can lead to a host of health problems. But who consumes that much pure fructose—and all by itself? Does this mean we should avoid fruit? Honey? All things that contain any amount of fructose? Clearly more research needs to be done in this area, but the bottom line remains: We should all be eating fewer sweets, regardless of the source of sweetness.

It’s important that we be wise consumers of health information and read studies like this critically, asking important questions, and making sure not to apply a small lab study to other real-world scenarios that might not fit. For more information on being a savvy reader of nutrition research, click here .

What This Means for You
For years, trainers position (and some registered dietitians) has always been that we are eating too much of the sweet stuff, no matter what the source. When it’s added to your morning coffee, hidden in your can of soda, or baked into your chocolate brownie, sweetened foods are everywhere. The typical American over the age of two consumes more than 300 calories daily from sugar and other caloric sweeteners (including HFCS). That’s 19 teaspoons of sweetener (75 grams) a day! One-sixth of our calorie intake is coming from a food ingredient that provides absolutely no nutritional benefit! This is definitely affecting our weight and overall health. It is time to take charge and cut back! The most recent recommendations suggest:

• Healthy adults who consume approximately 2,000 calories daily should limit the amount of all caloric sweeteners to no more than 32 grams (8 teaspoons) of sugar daily.
• Adults who are consuming approximately 1,200-1,500 calories daily, this would equate to about 19-24 grams (5-6 teaspoons) of sugar each day.

Please note that doesn’t only apply to sugar that you to your morning coffee or oatmeal; it applies to all “hidden” sugars, too, which are found in other processed foods and drinks that you may purchase.

To help curb the sugar monster so you can keep your weight and health in check, follow these tips.

• Always read the ingredients list. Foods you might not even realize are sweetened (like bread, dried fruit and crackers) might be hiding added sugars. Learn to identify terms that mean added sugars on the ingredients list, including sugar, white sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, confectioner’s sugar, corn syrup, crystallized fructose, dextrin, honey, invert sugar, maple syrup, raw sugar, beet sugar, cane sugar, corn sweeteners, evaporated cane juice, glucose-fructose, granulated fructose, high fructose corn syrup, fructose, malt, molasses, and turbinado sugar. Try to limit foods that have any of these “sugars” as one of the first three ingredients.
• If you take your coffee with sugar, try adding a small piece of cinnamon stick or vanilla bean to your cup. It adds flavor without adding caloric sweeteners.
• When baking, reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe. Most of the time you can reduce the sugar by up to one-third without noticing a difference in the taste or texture of the final product. Now that’s sweet!
• Sweeten other food items with vanilla extract or other “sweet” spices instead of caloric sweeteners. Many times cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice can naturally sweeten a recipe.
• Substitute homemade fruit purees for sugar and syrups in recipes. Applesauce (look for varieties made without added sugar) can be substituted for some of the sugar in muffins, breads and baked desserts.
• Top your breakfast waffles or pancakes with fresh fruit compote instead of syrup.
• Limit the amount of regular soda and caloric-sweetened beverages. While artificially sweetened “diet” beverages aren’t exactly health foods, they are one way to cut calories. The healthiest choice is always water. To add a splash of flavor to your water, add lemon or lime juice, other types of 100% fruit juice, or pieces of frozen fruit.
• Skip the calorie-sweetened yogurts that use sugar, honey, syrup, fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate, sugar and HFCS. Buy plain, natural yogurt and sweeten it yourself with fresh fruit, frozen fruit or fruit canned in its own juice.
• Select breakfast cereals with 5 grams of sugar or fewer per serving. Add sweetness with fresh, frozen, or fruit canned in its own juice. Try sliced bananas, canned peaches, frozen blueberries, or fresh strawberries.
• If you’re a juice drinker, buy 100% fruit juices and limit it to 1 cup daily for adults and ½ cup daily for children. Beware of juice “drinks,” fruit punches, and juice cocktails; these contain only a small amount of juice and the rest is water and added caloric sweeteners.