Slim Down with Soup

A diet high in fiber is satisfying and curbs your hunger. One easy and effective way to include it in your diet is to dine on something that may already be in your cupboard – and that’s none other than soup.

Often containing about 100 calories per serving, soup is healthy and usually packed with plenty of vegetables and fiber. This helps you fill more satisfied than less healthy foods, and keeps you from consuming too many calories overall.

Here’s the skinny on how you can slim down with soup:
• Go for the low-fat and low-sodium version to make it extra healthy.
• Add beans, lentils, additional veggies or tofu to create a more fulfilling meal.
• Steer away from creamy soups and head straight to the broth-based ones.
• Try a fiber-packed bowl of soup before a meal to prevent overeating.
• Can’t find the right soup to satisfy your hunger and taste buds? Make your own healthy homemade version.

—About.com

Learn about Weight Loss NYC's healthy diet plan.

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Crackdown on Food Packaging Labels

Do you read nutrition facts labels when you shop for groceries? Many people don't, and don't always have the time to. Many food manufacturers try to make things simple by placing logos on the product packaging proclaiming the items are "smart choices" or "heart healthy" -- but might not be, making it ever more important to read those labels to keep your diet in check.

The FDA is currently trying to crack down on the food industry's labeling claims that could mislead consumers. This comes after a group of major foodmakers, including ConAgra Foods, Kellogg's and Unilever started a Smart Choices program in August 2009 that put a green "Smart Choices" checkmark logo on numerous food products.

These labels were also placed on foods that contain up to 50 percent sugar and represent up to as much as 80 percent of your daily fat intake. Some of the products highlighted the fact that they contain zero trans fats, but did not point out high levels of saturated fats.

That's why the FDA sent the Smart Choices program a letter stating that it could confuse consumers into choosing processed foods over fruits and vegetables. The FDA is now in the works of devising stricter front-packaging labeling on food products and the Smart Choices program is suspending its operations.

--New York Times; Washington Post

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Yummy Foods That Fight Fat

Dieting to lose weight should not mean depriving yourself of foods that taste good. In fact, eating healthier means you get to eat a lot of richer, better-tasting foods that just so happen to fight fat.

These are just some of those foods that can help you maintain your figure:

Almonds
Why they're good for you: They contain a high amount of alpha-linolenic acid, which speeds up metabolism, and can cut down BMI and weight by as much as 18 percent.

Berries
Why they're good for you: Fresh or frozen, these Vitamin C-packed fruits can improve the quality of your workouts and help you burn up to 30 percent more fat.

Cinnamon
Why it's good for you: Just a 1/4 teaspoon of it on your breakfast can keep you from experiencing an insulin spike, which causes your body to store fat.

Mustard
Why it's good for you: The turmeric in mustard slows the growth of fat tissues.

Oranges
Why they're good for you: Citrus fruit contains flavones that fight fat.

Soybeans
Why they're good for you: They are rich in choline, which stops fat absorption and breaks down fat deposits. (Those with breast cancer in their family history should check with their doctor first.)

Sweet potatoes
Why they're good for you: They're high in fiber and keep the insulin in check.

Swiss cheese
Why it's good for you: It has more calcium than most other cheeses, reduces fat-producing enzymes and increases further fat breakdown. Of course, the lower-fat version is healthier, too.

--Yahoo Health

How Did I Gain Weight?

You know what's good for you to eat and you know what's bad. You may not be the strictest dieter, but you generally follow the rules. Why is it then that you still gain weight? Are you sabotaging yourself or is there something else going on that you aren't aware of? The answers to these questions are surprising facts you need to know to help you stop gaining extra pounds.

Don't let your senses fool you

If you've ever told someone you can't smell fast food without gaining weight, you know what this is all about -- and there is some truth to that. The sight or smell of food can trigger your hunger and make you crave it and want more of it. Keeping bad foods out of sight, out of reach and far from your olfactory senses can prevent that desire to overeat.

Pay attention to what you eat

Watching what you eat takes on a whole new meaning when you learn that eating while distracted can cause you to overeat. If your mind is elsewhere, it may not register that you are filling your stomach. Be sure to drop the multitasking and turn off the TV while you eat so that your body knows when it is truly satisfied.

Make it exciting

Variety in what you eat can lessen your chances of overstuffing yourself. It's a fact that we make room for dessert, even after having a huge meal because we haven't satisfied our sweet tooth yet. The solution? Include a bit of fruit in your meal (or try as a dessert alternative) to get that fix.

Portion control

The larger your plate or take-out container, the more you could potentially eat. When eating out of a larger container, you could eat 25 to 50 percent more than someone else eating from a smaller one. The trick is to use smaller utensils, bowls, plates, etc. so it doesn't appear that you are depriving yourself.

Avoid alcohol

Not only can alcoholic beverages add unnecessary calories to your diet, it can stimulate your appetite. Too much of it can impair your judgement -- and cause you to overeat. Limiting your intake or steering clear of it keeps those unwanted calories away.

Keep warm

Colder temperatures make you want to eat more and your metabolism drops (just think how cool restaurants are kept!). Regulate your hunger by keeping the temps in your own home warm and not too cool.

Your Social Circle Can Make or Break Your Dieting Habits

There is strength in numbers when it comes to getting the support you need from those closest to you, like family and friends, and it's especially important to your diet and overall health.

We previously blogged about how children are more likely to eat more when dining with friends who consume more calories, based on a study of teens and tweens published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In the same vein, there is further research that shows obesity can be contagious.

In a 2007 study spanning 32 years of a social network of 12,000 adults conducted by Harvard researcher Nicholas Christakis and fellow colleagues, it was found that a person is 37 percent more likely to be obese if a spouse is, 40 percent more likely if a sibling is and 57 percent more likely if a friend is.

The reasoning behind these facts is that adults eat more in the presence of family and friends than with strangers, and that socializing with overweight individuals can affect their perceptions of what the norm is regarding eating habits.

Finally, there's the idea that we just like to hang with people that are like ourselves. Cornell food sociologist Jeffrey Sobal explains that "especially among two overweight people, there's a sort of permission-giving going on. We're encouraging each other to eat more."

Wanting to be proactive about losing weight doesn't mean dropping overweight friends because making the decision to eat healthier can just as easily influence those around you to do the same.

--TIME

High Fructose Diets Can Impair Memory

Moms around the world warn their kids that too much sugar — or fructose — will rot their teeth, but did they ever think it could also affect their memory?

Researchers at Georgia State's Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology found that after feeding a group of Sprague-Dawley rats a diet that was 60 percent fructose, the rats' memories were impaired. Fructose is a type of sugar found in processed foods and sodas.

Marise Parent, associate professor at Georgia State, said:

Fructose, unlike another sugar, glucose, is processed almost solely by the liver, and produces an excessive amount of triglycerides — fat which get into the bloodstream. Triglycerides can interfere with insulin signaling in the brain, which plays a major role in brain cell survival and plasticity, or the ability for the brain to change based on new experiences.

Results were similar in adolescent rats, but it is unclear whether the effects of high fructose consumption are permanent, she said.

Human diets typically do not consist of the same high amount of fructose as the rats in the study, however, foods containing fructose and high fructose corn syrup are being consumed at increasing rates. Diets high in fructose can potentially cause such health issues as insulin insensitivity, type 2 diabetes, obesity and cariovascular disease. Many foods now contain fructose, but keeping your diet checked and eating foods with fructose in moderation can make a difference. —ScienceDaily

Can Peers Push Kids to Eat More?

Peer pressure can be a powerful force, but does that also influence eating habits? A childhood obesity study recently found that friends can influence the amount of food you eat, and that includes overeating.

23 overweight and 42 normal weight children between the ages of 9 and 15 were involved in the study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition were paired in groups of familiar and unfamiliar children. Each pair sat in a room for 45 minutes with bowls of low-calorie snacks such as baby carrots and grapes and high-calorie snacks such as potato chips and cookies. The children were told to eat as many snacks as they wanted from their own bowls.

The friends who ate together were found to eat more than pairs who didn't know each other. Friends were also found to eat similar amounts of food compared with the participants who ate with a stranger. When overweight children were paired with other overweight children, whether they knew the other person or not, ate more than the overweight children who ate with a normal weight child.

Sarah Salvy, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences told the ScienceDaily that "both overweight and normal weight participants eating with a friend ate significantly more than did participants eating in the presence of an unfamiliar peer. These results are consistent with research in adults, which showed that eating among friends and family is distinctly different than eating among strangers." --ScienceDaily

Think Skinny!

If you want to be skinny, you've got to think like a skinny person. This doesn't mean thinking is being, but delving into the diets of real-life skinny folks reveals some interesting food facts that could help you get or stay thin.

If you like this list, be sure to check out our own weight loss tips, and of course, schedule your first visit with the diet doctor today!

• Dense foods with high water content like fruits, veggies, water-based soups and stews and cooked whole grains are low in calories, but oh-so-satisfying.



• When dining out, start off with a salad or soup because you are more likely to eat much less calories after that -- as much as 12 percent less!



• Try eating five smaller meals each day instead of three larger ones to cut down on your portions



• Use a smaller plate to reduce the amount of food you eat



• Have a portion-controlled frozen meal instead of dining out



• Skipping meals often leads to overindulging on foods that are bad for you, so don't do it! Staving off hunger with healthy snacks is much better. And don't even think about skipping breakfast (78 percent of skinny people eat it)



• Keep moving! Simply standing, walking and moving around throughout the day, as opposed to being inactive, could help you burn an extra 350 calories



• Exercise not only burns calories and fat, it also makes you think twice about eating foods that aren't beneficial



• Weighing yourself regularly helps keep your diet and weight in check



• Thin people know their food pitfalls and cut them out entirely or don't even stock them in their refrigerator at home



• Children who grow up in homes where healthy foods are plentiful are more likely to grow up healthy -- and pass it on to future generations

Source: Real Simple

New Research Shows Fatty Foods Drive Hunger

A new discovery by the University of Cincinnati shows that the hunger hormone ghrelin is triggered by foods we eat, and challenges the previous notion that it is caused by periods of fasting.

Ghrelin is a hormone that was believed to accumulate during periods of fasting and is found in the body in high concentrations just before meals. It is dubbed the "hunger hormone" because it has been shown that administration of pharmacological doses acts in the brain to stimulate hunger and increase food intake in animal models and humans.

The ghrelin hormone is unique in that it requires acylation (the addition of a fatty acid) by a specific enzyme (ghrelin O-acyl transferase, or GOAT) for activation. Originally it was assumed that the fatty acids attached to ghrelin by GOAT were produced by the body during fasting.

Instead, ghrelin is actually activated by ingested dietary fats, and behaves more like a fat sensor in the stomach that tells the brain when calories are available for calorie-burning activities.

In the study, lab mice without the GOAT enzyme were observed to acculumate less fat, while those with over-expressed GOAT accumulated more fat.

Although the study can't completely be applied to humans, researchers think it will be an important idea to consider in how ghrelin can aid the results of gastric bypass surgery. —ScienceDaily

The Brain's Memories of Fat

According to a recent study by the University of California, Irvine, the human brain forms long-term memories of eating fatty foods, demonstrating a link between dietary fats and appetite control.

Earlier studies found that oleic acids from fats are turned into a compound called oleoylethanolamide (OEA) in the upper small intestines, and send hunger-curbing messages to the brain to help increase feelings of fullnes. The new study discovered that OEA also turns superficial, short-term memories into meaningful, long-term memories by activating memory signals in the amygdala, which is responsible for storing emotional events.

"OEA is part of the molecular glue that makes memories stick," neuroscientist Daniele Piomelli, a co-author of the study, said in a university news release. "By helping mammals remember where and when they have eaten a fatty meal, OEA's memory-enhancing activity seems to have been an important evolutionary tool for early humans and other mammals." —MedicineNet

Researchers Find Brain Connection to Cravings

Researchers at California Institute of Technology found in their latest study on cravings that there are two areas in the brain that give people self-control over unhealthy foods.

Using an MRI to scan volunteers' brains while looking at images of different types of food to decide which ones they would prefer to eat, researchers discovered significant differences in brain activity between those with self-control over what they eat and those without it.

...the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is involved in all value-based decisions. When vmPFC activity decreases, a person will probably reject an item, whereas increased activity means they'll probably choose it.

The new study found that in people with no self-control, the vmPFC seemed to take into consideration only the taste of a food.

"In the case of good self-controllers, however, another area of the brain -- called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) -- becomes active and modulates the basic value signals so that the self-controllers can also incorporate health considerations into their decisions," principal investigator Antonio Rangel, an associate professor of economics, said in a CalTech news release. —HealthDay News