Saturday, November 26, 2011

Chew on this: How you eat can help you lose weight

Chewing can help you lose weight? Seriously?

Yes, it can, but only if you do it right, says Brian Udermann, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse who studies health myths.


A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in 2008 found that participants who ate a meal in eight minutes consumed 11 percent more calories than those who ate the same meal in 21 minutes — 645 for the fast eaters versus 579 for the slow eaters. The researchers also found that the slower eaters drank more water during the meal and rated the food more satisfying and pleasant.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Text Messaging, Social Media can Help College Students Lose Weight

October 17, 2011

Melissa Napolitano, PhD.  Photo by Ryan Brandenberg, Temple University
Melissa Napolitano, PhD.
Look around on any college campus and you'll likely see hordes of students with heads down and thumbs furiously tapping away on their smart phones. A new study from Temple finds that this very act — texting and visiting Facebook — can help college students lose weight.

The study, led by Melissa Napolitano, an Associate Professor of Kinesiology and a psychologist at the Center for Obesity Research and Education, compared weight loss among a cohort of 52 college-age students, mostly women, who were broken into three groups:
  • Facebook group — these participants visited a private Facebook page to get eating and exercise tips and viewed podcasts on how to improve diet and exercise routines.
  • Facebook-plus group — participants visited the same page, but also received personalized, one-on-one feedback from a researcher via text messaging.
  • Control group — participants received no diet or exercise advice and were put on a waiting list to participate in the program.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Overweight people eat less often: study




(Reuters) - Overweight adults eat less often than people in the normal body weight range, but still take in more calories and are less active over the course of the day, according to a U.S. study.

By contrast, normal weight adults, including those who had lost a lot of weight and kept it off, ate more often, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Can weight loss reset health risks in heavy kids?

By Gene Emery

NEW YORK | Wed Nov 16, 2011 5:21pm EST

(Reuters Health) - Overweight children who shed their excess pounds in adulthood don't face a higher risk of obesity-related health problems, an analysis of four studies involving children and adults in the United States, Australia and Finland has concluded.

The findings don't prove weight loss in itself will eliminate the extra risks, but they mean overweight or obese children are not automatically destined for higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Men and heavy people may outpace women and slim people in eating speed

By Jeannine Stein
Los Angeles Times


LOS ANGELES — If we are what we eat, we also may be how fast we eat. Two studies from the University of Rhode Island offer some insight into the relationship between how fast we eat and how much we eat.

The first study compared eating rates and calories consumed among 30 men and 30 women at various meals. Researchers discovered that people who ate quickly consumed about 3.1 ounces of food per minute, versus 2.5 ounces per minute for medium-speed eaters and 2 ounces per minute for slow eaters.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Negative calories for weight loss

by Ishi Khosla  

Time and again one hears on special foods for weight loss. With the search for a magic bullet for weight loss, some foods too have been tagged as negative calories implying that they have no calories. 

It is believed that one can lose weight by eating these negative calorie foods as they supposedly take more energy to process and digest than they provide in calories. 

For example, one will burn about 60 calories digesting a 15-calorie piece of celery, with a loss of 45 calories. This is because it is predominantly composed of water and indigestible fiber in the form of cellulose. Other examples include cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, berries, turnip, radish, asparagus, grapefruit, cucumber, lettuce and spinach. 

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Extreme Weight Loss: Man Loses 191 Pounds in Bet With His Wife

By the end of last year, Jay Wornick tipped the scales at 366 pounds, raising the concerns of his wife, Angela. Frustrated by her inability to motivate her 30-year-old husband to lose weight, she decided she needed to make a play to his competitive side.

So the Fulton, N.Y., couple embarked on a bet to start the New Year: Who could lose the most weight the fastest.

Now, 11 months later, Jay Wornick is eating a lot less, and his wife is eating her words.
"I thought I had this one in the bag," she said today on "Good Morning America," where her husband revealed his new 191-pounds slimmer figure to the world. "But he was determined."