Diet Deception: The Cabbage Soup Diet

The Premise: 

The more soup you eat, the more weight you lose. Cabbage is the one super vegetable with little calories and high fat burning capabilities.

The Provisions: 

The basic ingredients of the soup include three large onions, green bell pepper, a head of celery, dark green cabbage, chopped tomatoes, onion soup mix and three cubes of vegetable stock.

The Promise: 

Weight loss of 10 to 15 pounds in seven days by following the seven-day cabbage soup diet.

The Proof: 

Rachel, 28, marketing assistant said “I tried it and lost 4 pounds. It’s really hard to just eat the darned soup day in and day out over and over! Plus, I actually gained it all back in less than a week so I don’t think this diet works unless you intend to stay on cabbage soup forever which is a fate worse than death, if you ask me”.

The Prognosis: 

First of all, there’s no such thing as “the one food” that will melt all your fat away. Whether its cabbage or grapefruit, eating only one type of food is just nutritionally unsound. Furthermore, it’s only a matter of time before your body starts craving for other types of food which will probably not be the healthiest of choices. In fact, according to an article in the Journal of Nutrition (2001), the only thing you lose in this diet is water, which you will quickly gain back by downing even just a few glasses of water.

The Pros’ Position:

“Anything that shuts out other food groups is already a warning signal for you not to try it. There are no miracle foods out there that you can gorge solely on and expect miracle results. Water is the easiest thing to lose when you want the scales to reflect a lower number pronto. But being water deficient can cause dry skin and make you look old quickly, especially if you keep dehydrating yourself often enough,” says Ana Cruz, an L.A. nutritionist and dietician who once worked for the Duke University Medical Center.

Dr. Sanirose Orbeta, a nutrinionist adds, “People who take this soup will automatically lose weight because it’s very low in total calories. One cup of pure vegetable soup doesn’t even amount to 50 calories, the equivalent of one medium-sized banana or one medium-sized apple. It’s not sustainable for the needs of the body. It’s nutritionally unsound and unsafe.

A Diet for Stunning Skin

The best get that perfect skin routine? It is not the up-to-the-minute treatment in a spa. It's our manner of eating. Yes of course, we are familiar to that for years. Experts believed that greasy oily foods and also chocolates don't cause a pimple breakout and that, in general, what we eat has no effect in our skin. But the latest research proves a different one. So go after these four rules on how we can feed our skin.

Stay away from white stuff 
It turned out that our favorite french fries is a cause for breakouts. However it's not the oil that's the reason, it is the potatoes. In a latest study, researchers observed the 1,200 inhabitants of an island next to Papua New Guinea and 115 hunter-gatherers in the country of Paraguay and could not find even single breakout. Do you want to know their secret?  According to Loren Cordain Ph.D., a professor of health and exercise science at the Colorado State University, their secret is a diet that consists of almost exclusive protein, veggies and fruits. Not present from their meals are carbohydrates- such as pasta, bread, white bread, potatoes, rice, and sweets- that are the foundation of our present diet. These carbohydrates send our insulin levels to soar, and researchers thinks that this sets off a chain reaction that leads to pimple breakouts.

Food switching: As a substitute of refined white carbohydrates, go for reasonable amounts of complex carbohydrates like brown rice, whole-grain bread, and whole-wheat pasta (they are being digested more gradually).  And to keep line away later, binge on brightly colored fruits and vegetables. They’re rich in antioxidants, which ward off the dangerous free radicals that lead to wrinkles, furrows, and other signs of aging.


Take pleasure in Seafoods 

Fish is a good source of omega-3 and omega-6 or being referred as essential fatty acids (EFAs), which lessen the inflammation in the body. Inflammation triggers our cells to block our skin's pore, causing acne breakout. This is according to Nicholas Perricone, the author of The Perricone Prescription. The varieties of fish that contain the most EFAs are mackerel, salmon, and tuna (mostly the albacore and variety of blue fin). EFAs can also be found in flaxseed, almonds, and hazelnut.

Food switching: Eat smoked salmon for your breakfast, eat tuna sandwiches for your lunch, and consume salmon burger in replacement to hamburgers. If eating fish is not your thing, then eat a handful of almonds as an afternoon snack.


Evict blush triggers  
While a slight color in your cheeks is pleasing, full-on reddishness is not just the look you are after. And some beverages and foods, such as cured meats, spices, MSG, and alcohol (chiefly red wine) , can be a reason for our blood vessels to widen, bringing on redness on our face, says John Wolf, M.D. , chairman of the department of dermatology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Food switching: If you have a tendency to redden easily, keep your mind on to which foods carry it on, since people have dissimilar triggers. If eating spicy foods get you redden easily, then order Thai foods without the curry and eliminate wasabi when you go and crave for a sushi. If you redden after a few drinks, hold back or at least passes on drinking red wine.


Spoil yourself with Olive Oil
If we stay away from fat or grease for the sake of keeping our waistline trimmed, our skin could be sacrificed. According to says Joy Bauer, the author of The 90/10 Weight Loss Plan, a lot of young men and women have dry, flaky skin, and it is because they do not eat enough fat. If we are getting less than 20 grams of fat a day (approximately 2 tablespoons of oil) , our skin might not be able to lubricate itself and our body may not absorb enough supply vitamin A, which our skin needs to avoid premature aging.

Food switching: shower your salad with some olive oil and toss in some nuts and avocados. I swear this won’t have any unfavorable effect on the size of your jeans.




Images:

Bread: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41061319@N00/3195546454/
Salmon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreagp/1122613434/
Olive oil: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10413717@N08/3868212179/

Caffeine: The Right Way

The word “coffee” comes from the ancient Arabic word qahweh which means “gives strength”. The computer data-base at the Colgan Institute contains over 600 citations on caffeine, stretching back two centuries. So the effects of caffeine, the main stimulant in coffee, have been known for thousand of years.

Properly used, caffeine is a bonanza. Dr Melvin Williams and his colleagues at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia have produced excellent reviews, showing that caffeine stimulates the our  central nervous system, increases the release of adrenalin, increases the use of body fat as fuel, and spares glycogen.

There are also two detrimental effects of caffeine that commonly being cited: it is a diuretic which will make us lose water in our body, and is a thermogenic which means that it raises our metabolic rate and our body’s temperature.  The athletes are frequently being warned that taking caffeine can make them dehydrated. But nearly all the studies showing these effects were done with inactive folk.

Recent research using athletes as subjects, found no diuresis or thermo genesis. Dr Baraket Falk and his colleagues at McMaster University, Ontario, gave endurance runners caffeine at 7.5mg/kg bodyweight (560 mg for a 75kg man). The dose had no effect on water loss, and did not raise temperature any higher without it, in men running a treadmill to exhaustion at 70-75% of VO2max. That's about as fast as you can go in long endurance exercise. So forget those two old bogeys of sedentary caffeine use. Caffeine on the run is a different animal.

The most common beneficial finding on caffeine use is an increase in burning of body fat as fuel. Compared with controls, up to 100% more body fat is used by subjects given with caffeine. If your body is using more fat for energy, then it is sparing your muscle glycogen, and therefore will extend your time to exhaustion in long endurance events. One proviso: if you load carbohydrates, so that your muscles are filled with glycogen above its normal levels, then your body is more primed to use glycogen, and caffeine fails to increase the burning of fat. Your body always takes the easiest of its many alternative routes. Supercharge one fuel source and it will use that first.

We also have to take the caffeine at the right time. Although many exercise studies have given caffeine one hour before exercise, studies that centers on measurement of our body’s free fatty acid metabolism, show that our body's fat-burn reaction to caffeine will only begin 3 hours after ingestion. 

As a final tip. If you drink coffee to get your caffeine, which is a better way to do it than taking pills, keep away from the inexpensive coffees prepared from the beans of Coffea Robusta. They make a sour brew, brown that is hell on the gut. Go and get Coffea Arabica, like Guatemalan Antigua, Kenyan AA or 100% Columbian.  

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Water Intake: Make it a Habit

Our body is composed of over ¾ of water and it is also a common knowledge that we cannot exist in this world without it.  As a matter of fact, after 3 days of living without drinking water, we will die.  On the other hand, water is now being replaced in a good number of the diets by refreshments sweetened by sugar and soft drinks.  But take into account that it is still better to drink water as is and is essential for leading us on the way to a better well being and long life.

Our individual water need can differ greatly due to our personal activities or exercise, weight, and temperature.  It has been proven through research that 67% of the older population does not consume enough water that is needed on a regular basis. Regular water intake will replenish our body and will keep our body hydrated and working properly. Most of us before we drink a glass of water will wait until we experience dryness in our throat and until we feel thirsty.  Keep in mind; this is not a dependable measure of our body’s water needs.  We have already lost about two or more cups of our body’s water supply by the time we feel we are thirsty. For that reason, it is still healthier to have a regular intake of water in our body than to simply wait until we feel the thirst. 

We should also take note that we must never replace our body’s fluid needs by drinking caffeinated drink or alcoholic beverages. Why? Because these types of beverages serve as diuretics in our body and will cause it to lose more fluids by frequent urination. We possibly believe and sense as if our body is getting more intake of water by drinking these types of beverages, but the reality is that we are letting our body fluids go as quick as we consume it.

We need an extra supply of water every time we exercise. A moderate amount of water will be lost whenever our body perspires. There is a need to drink at least 2 cups of water for every pound that we lost because of exercise. 

Are you aware that our body still loses water even while we sleep? Yes it does. And by drinking some water before we hit the sack, maybe a glass or two will do, we can get up with our body performing as it ought to be.

Also, when we are sick, it is when our body needs to have a greater amount of water intake.  When we acquire flu or colds, our body will be dehydrated quite fast. So, the best way to prevent dehydration is by drinking water, more water, when we are sick.

We must make it a habit to have regular water consumption.  And bringing a bottle of water with you at all time is a great way in making regular water consumption a habit.  

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