Category Archives: Diet

Do you know what Tahini is?

Tahini is typically a common ingredient in popular foods worldwide, including hummus, halva, and baba ghanoush.

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Favored to its smooth texture and rich taste, it may be used as a dip, spread, salad dressing, or condiment.

Plus it boasts a dust bin of nutrients and a number of other rewards, that makes it vital for practically any kitchen pantry.

Tahini is typically a paste made out of toasted and ground sesame seeds.
Considered essential of Mediterranean cuisine, tahini is often featured in traditional Asian, Middle Eastern, and African dishes too.

It’s a remarkably versatile ingredient which can be served just like a dip, spread, or condiment.

It typically possesses a smooth texture similar to nut butter but a stronger, more savory taste that’s often talked about as bitter.

In addition to providing valuable nutrients, tahini has as well been linked to many perks, including improved heart health, reduced inflammation, and potential cancer-fighting effects.

Reference

What Is Tahini? Ingredients, Nutrition, Benefits, and Downsides. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-tahini

Would you like to know what increasing or decreasing meat does to you over time?

A review of more than 80,000 patients over eight years suggests things to one’s chance of premature death when changing meat consumption. Most of us are aware that eating pork is not very good to fit your needs. Think A higher likelihood of adult-onset diabetes, heart problems, some kinds of cancer, and premature mortality. Moreover, adding in processed white meat like bacon, hot dogs, and sausages get you much more: Increased risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart attack, and hypertension.

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Thus it sounds right that increasing or decreasing one’s meat consumption is sure to have a visible impact eventually, the specifics of which are precisely such a team of researchers due to the States and China set out to determine. The twist this is that they can be desired to figure out the risks not tied to initial white meat intake, and specifically, the risk of mortality.
When it comes to the research, the entire team members used data from 53,553 female nurses, ages 30 to 55, beginning with the famous cohort study, the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), as well as from 27,916 male health professionals, aged 40 to 75, that are caused by the Physicians Follow-up Study (HPFS). All were devoid of heart disease and cancer at the beginning of a given study.

They measured increases or decreases of red meat intake for eight years, and then tracked health wellness and death data for eight years afterward. Exactly what found would likely surprise just about nobody. The study causes that: In two large prospective cohorts of ourselves women and men, we came to see a rise in white meat consumption over eight years was directly connected with risk of death during the course of the subsequent eight years and started independent of initial white meat intake and concurrent changes in lifestyle factors. This association with mortality was observed with increased consumption of processed and unprocessed meat but was stronger for processed meat.

Equally unsurprising, also due to the study: A decrease altogether beef consumption and a simultaneous increase in the use of nuts, fish, poultry without skin, dairy, eggs, whole grains, or vegetables over eight years was associated with far less danger of death in the subsequent eight years.
They say which the research suggests the fact that a change in protein source or maintaining a healthy diet natural foods such as vegetables or wholesome grains can undergo significant change longevity. Moreover, such findings were also relevant in shortcut (for a period of four years) and longer run (12 years) studies they did too.

How a large part of an associated impact did they find? After adjusting for age together with other potentially influential factors: Increasing total white meat intake (both processed and unprocessed) by 3.5 servings a week or even more over eight years was associated with a 10 percent greater risk of death within the next eight years.

Increasing processed white meat intake, such as bacon, hot dogs, sausages and salami, by 3.5 servings one week or more was associated with a 13 percent upper chances of death.

They found that the associations were consistent across different age brackets, methods of physical activity, dietary quality, smoking, and alcohol habits.

Meanwhile, they found that: Swapping out one serving each day of beef, for example, serving of fish per day over eight years was linked with a 17 percent lower risk of death inside the subsequent eight years. Which seems pretty significant to me. Now granted, it was an observational study, and in consequence, the cause could not be explicitly established; also, as the authors note, then the members of those two cohorts were mainly white registered doctors, so the findings are probably not more widely applicable. However, the comprehensive data incorporates a vast swath of individuals during an extended period, with many assessments of diet and lifestyle factors, with similar results between the cohorts.

Given all of the prior evidence linking the consumption of white meat to poor health, it seems sensible that increasing one’s intake would be connected with a heightened likelihood of mortality. The findings provide “a functional message to the general public of precisely how dynamic changes in red meat consumption is associated with health,” they conclude. “Changing protein source or maintaining a healthy diet natural foods such as vegetables or wholesome grains can change longevity.”

Reference
What increasing or decreasing meat does to you over time …. https://www.treehugger.com/health/what-increasing-or-decreasing-red-meat-does-your-risk-death.html

Do you know how much fruit and vegetables you should be eating every day?

In line with the CDC, in 2015 only 12 percent of Americans met the suggestions for consuming fruit, and only nine percent consumed enough vegetables – also though eating sufficient fruits & vegetables as an ingredient of a standard nutritious diet reduces the chance of numerous chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some cancers, and obesity.

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Therefore, only how much is enough?

The federal guidelines had previously been shown in a pyramid and guidelines had been described in servings, that could sometimes be complicated since one serving could mean, for instance, a complete piece of medium sized good fresh fruit or 1/2 glass of canned, fresh fruit or 3/4 glass of fruit juice. One practically needed a spreadsheet and a calculator to keep track.

Utilizing the newer introduction of the MyPlate graphic, it is a bit easier. The idea is usually to fill half of a person’s plate with fruits and vegetables; as well as the serving sizes have now been simplified to cups.

Daily fruit recommendation
Women 19 to 30 years old: 2 cups
Women 31+ years old: 1 ½ cups
Men 19 years old and up: 2 cups

Daily vegetable recommendation:
Women 19 to 30 years old: 2 ½ cups
Women 31 to 50 years old: 2 ½ cups
Women 51+ years old: 2 cups
Men 19 to 30 years old: 3 cups
Men 31 to 50 years old: 3 cups
Men 51+ years old: 2 ½ cups

What one cup means
Now here’s where it can get a little confusing again, because a cup isn’t always a cup.
FRUIT
Generally speaking, although not always, one cup of fruit or a ½ cup of dried fruit can be considered as 1 cup through the Fruit Group. Any fruit or 100 percent fruit juice counts (though remember that juice lacks the fiber of whole fruits). Here are a few other equivalents.

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1 small apple (2¼” diameter) = 1 cup-equivalent
1 large banana (8-9″ long) = 1 cup-equivalent
½ cup of fruit cocktail = ½ cup-equivalent
½ medium grapefruit (4″ diameter) = ½ cup-equivalent
1 medium bunch of grapes (about 50 grapes) = 1½ cup-equivalents
1 medium mango = 1 cup-equivalent
1 small orange (approx. 2½” diameter) = ½ cup-equivalent
½ cup of 100% orange juice (4 fluid ounces) = ½ cup-equivalent
½ large peach (2¾” diameter) = ½ cup-equivalent
2 large plums (2½” diameter each) = 1 cup-equivalent
¼ cup of raisins = ½ cup-equivalent
VEGETABLES
Any vegetable or 100 percent vegetable juice counts; vegetables may be raw or cooked; fresh, frozen, canned, or dried/dehydrated; and may be whole, cut-up, or mashed. Within the vegetable group, there are sub-groups, of which you should strive to eat a mix of all: Dark-green vegetables; red and orange vegetables; starchy vegetables; beans and peas (which can also satisfy protein requirements), and other vegetables. The equivalents are often equal, but not always. Here is a list to give you a better idea.

½ cup of black beans (cooked) = ½ cup-equivalent
½ cup of broccoli = ½ cup-equivalent
1 cup of baby carrots = 1 cup-equivalent
½ cup of cauliflower = ½ cup-equivalent
½ cup of corn = ½ cup-equivalent
½ cup of green beans (cooked) = ½ cup-equivalent
½ cup of kidney beans (cooked) = ½ cup-equivalent
1 cup of iceberg lettuce = ½ cup-equivalent
1 cup of romaine lettuce = ½ cup-equivalent
½ cup of mushrooms = ½ cup-equivalent
2 slices of onion (raw) = ¼ cup-equivalent
½ cup of pinto beans (cooked) = ½ cup-equivalent
1 medium baked or boiled potato (2½-3″ diameter) = 1 cup-equivalent
1 cup of baby spinach (raw) = ½ cup-equivalent
1 large baked sweet potato (2¼” diameter) = 1 cup-equivalent
½ cup of 100% tomato juice (4 fluid ounces) = ½ cup-equivalent
½ cup of tomatoes (raw) = ½ cup-equivalent
½ cup of zucchini = ½ cup-equivalent

Reference

Here is how much fruit and vegetables you should be eating …. https://www.treehugger.com/health/heres-how-much-produce-you-should-be-eating-every-day.html

Excellent 5 things you need to cut out of your diet in order to reduce high blood pressure and lower the risk of heart failure

You may be everything you do not consume.

A diet that can help people reduce high blood pressure or hypertension might also lessen the chance of heart failure in people underneath the chronological age of 75, based on research published into the latest version of the United States Journal of Preventive Medicine, and led by doctors at Wake Forest School of Medicine, which will be section of Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, N.C.

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‘Only a couple of previous research reports have examined the consequences for the Dash diet in the incidence of heart failure, and they have got yielded conflicting results.’— Claudia Campos, Wake Forest Class of Medicine

An observational study greater than 4,500 people over 13 years revealed that those people under 75 whom most closely adhered towards the Dash diet had a considerably lower danger of developing heart failure compared to those who were least likely to stick to the tenets associated with the diet. (Dash means for Dietary ways to Stop Hypertension.)

“Only a couple of previous research reports have examined the results regarding the Dash diet in the incidence of heart failure, and they have got yielded conflicting outcomes,” said Claudia Campos, associate teacher of essential interior medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine. “Following the Dash diet can lessen the possibility of developing heart failure by almost half.”

The study recommends cutting five things from the diet: This Dash diet recommends fruits, veggies, nuts, whole grain products, poultry, fish and low-fat dairy food while reducing the use of three main components: salt, red meat, sweets, and sugar-sweetened beverages. It is very just like the Mediterranean diet. Nevertheless, the Dash diet recommends reducing two more things: full cream (and only low-fat milk products) and alcohol consumption.

There are various other approaches to eat healthiest too. Those who eat gradually are less inclined to become overweight or develop a metabolic problem, a group of cardiovascular illnesses, diabetic issues and stroke danger factors, following research presented during the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2017. They might be more aware of what they are eating and drinking and tend to be less prone to overeating.

The Dash diet is quite like the Mediterranean diet, but, unlike that diet, it advises low-fat milk products and excluding alcohol consumption.

Dietitians also advise against snacking and takeouts. Men and women have less control over what gets into their dishes when they order in. Americans get a majority of their daily sodium — more than 75% — from processed food and restaurant food, in line with the Centers for Infection Control and Prevention. Individuals eat, on average, 200 calories more per meal if they eat food from restaurants.

“Excess salt can boost your blood pressure levels as well as your risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke,” the Centers for Infection Control and Prevention states. “Together, cardiovascular illnesses and stroke kill more Americans each year than just about any other cause.” Americans get 71% of the day-to-day sodium from processed and restaurant meals. Cooking on your own could be the best and healthiest option.

Artificially sweetened beverages could be associated with a heightened risk of stroke and dementia, following the American Heart Association’s peer-reviewed journal Stroke. Another 2015 study unearthed that older ladies who consume several diet carbonated drinks per day are 30% prone to suffer a cardiovascular occasion. Include that to more research suggesting regular soft drink is related to obesity.

Reference
5 things to cut out of your diet right now to reduce high …. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-simple-but-critical-changes-to-your-diet-can-help-reduce-high-blood-pressure-and-lower-risk-of-heart-failure-2019-05-14

Why don’t fats make a person fat? A Dietitian explains how it might be the opposite

Professionals have some excellent news to fairly share: no, eating fats does not automatically make you fat. Overeating, macronutrient (fat, protein, or carbs) boosts the threat of weight gain, said registered dietitian Kristin Kirkpatrick at Cleveland Clinic Wellness, but “fat in and of itself just is not a thing that is likely to make you fat,” despite the somewhat misleadingly identical terminology.

You can understand where in actuality the misconception arises from, however. “Fat can be a fairly scary nutrient” for individuals who count calories, Kristin said, since it is more calorie-dense: one gram of fat contains nine calories, in comparison to four calories per gram of protein and four calories per gram of carbohydrate. “People also may associate fat with more ‘indulgent’ foods, such as butter and steak,” Kristin told POPSUGAR, adding to the misconception that every fat are unhealthy. Then there is the simple association that eating fats might create fat within the body, which is not just the situation; you are likely to gain weight if you eat processed or processed foods or overeat consistently, including fats, but fats do not inherently lead to weight gain.

Kristin said, nearly all her clients have now been able to lose weight on high-fat diets, often since they replace refined carbs and sugars with healthy fats (snacking on nuts as opposed to pretzels, for example). The popular ketogenic diet, which can be high-fat and low-carb, is the one which has helped many people drop some weight, even though it is still controversial among dietitians.

According to Kristin, fats will also be harder to digest than other nutrients, such as carbs. This means they take longer to move throughout your digestive system, that will help you stay full for longer and have fewer snacking cravings. Fats improve your metabolism for the same reason; the body needs more energy (aka burns more calories) to digest them.

Exactly how much fat should you eat, then? On average, seek to keep fats as 30 percent of one’s healthy daily diet, though Kristin noted that this would probably vary based on the body, activity level, and general health; consult a health care provider or dietitian for guidelines specific to the body. You ought to also adhere to healthy fats as much as possible, including avocados, nuts, whole soy, olive oil, and fatty fish like tuna and salmon.

So no, you most likely do not need to go nonfat to get rid of weight or remain healthy. Keeping those healthy fat sources as part of your regular diet, balanced with carbs and much protein, is the better way to go.

Reference
Does Eating Fat Make You Fat? | POPSUGAR Fitness. https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Does-Eating-Fat-Make-You-Fat-46237336

New study links people who don’t get enough sleep to poor nutrition

Study links people who don’t get enough sleep to poor nutrition

Poor sleep has been connected to poor nutrition. However, it is unclear why the two may appear together. The association between the issues was revealed in a study that looked at National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, based on the American Society for Nutrition, which unearthed that individuals who sleep lower than seven hours per night might also lack adequate levels of vital nutrients.

Following the CDC, adults should get more than seven hours of sleep per night to maintain their health. The brand new study unearthed that US adults who got not as much as that number also, an average of, consumed fewer nutrients like vitamins D and A, zinc, niacin, and more.

Some vitamins and minerals are vital for health but are not created by the body. Someone with a poor diet could be with a lack of at least one of these micronutrients, eventually leading to disruption in normal bodily functions, or perhaps the introduction of diseases or any other problems.

As well as a connection between poor sleep and poor nutrition, the study found that more nutrients were connected to poor sleep in females; taking vitamin supplements reduced the amount, based on the study, hinting at a potential benefit from supplementing to fill the nutritional gaps in one’s diet.

The findings may be revealed because of the study’s lead author Chioma Ikonte in the annual American Society for Nutrition meeting. The type for the study means the researchers were not able to find out whether someone suffers poor sleep quality because of poor nutrition, or if perhaps poor sleep quality eventually results in nutritional deficits.

Reference

Study links people who don’t get enough sleep to poor …. https://www.slashgear.com/study-links-people-who-dont-get-enough-sleep-to-poor-nutrition-09579778/

It is interesting that Vitamin D supplement does not prevent type 2 diabetes in adults at high risk, study finds

Taking a daily vitamin D supplement will not prevent type 2 diabetes in adults at high risk, according to results from research funded by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), an element of the National Institutes of Health. The Vitamin D and Type 2 Diabetes (D2d) study enrolled 2,423 adults and was conducted at 22 sites throughout the united states of America. These findings were published June 7 into the New England Journal of Medicine and presented during the 79th Scientific Sessions regarding the American Diabetes Association in San Francisco bay area.

2d may be the most extensive study to directly examine if daily vitamin D supplementation assists in maintaining people at high risk for type 2 diabetes from developing the illness. The analysis included adults aged 30 or older and assigned participants randomly to either take 4,000 International Units (IU) for the D3 (cholecalciferol) kind of vitamin D or a placebo pill daily. All study participants had their vitamin D levels measured at the beginning of the study. During those times, about 80% of participants had vitamin D levels considered sufficient by U.S. nutritional standards.

“Observational studies have reported an association between lower levels of vitamin D and increased risk for type 2 diabetes,” said Myrlene Staten, M.D., D2d project scientist at NIDDK. “Additionally, smaller studies discovered that vitamin D could improve the function of beta cells, which produce insulin. However, whether vitamin D supplementation might help prevent or delay type 2, diabetes had not been known.”

The analysis screened participants every three to half a year for an average of 2.5 years to ascertain if diabetes had developed. Researchers then compared how many people in all the two study groups which had progressed to type 2 diabetes. At the end of the analysis, 293 away from 1211 participants (24.2%) in the vitamin D group developed diabetes in comparison to 323 out of 1212 (26.7%) into the placebo group – a difference that failed to reach statistical significance. The study was made to detect a risk decrease by 25% or even more.

D2d enrolled a different number of participants with a variety of physical characteristics, including sex, age, and body mass index, as well as racial and ethnic diversity. This representation helps ensure that the analysis findings could be widely applicable to people at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

As well as the study’s size, certainly one of its major strengths could be the diversity of their participants, which enabled us to examine the effect of vitamin D across a sizable number of people. When the study ended, we found no meaningful difference between the two groups, no matter age, sex, race, or ethnicity.

Reference
NIH-funded trial finds vitamin D does not prevent type 2 …. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-funded-trial-finds-vitamin-d-does-not-prevent-type-2-diabetes-people-high-risk

It is amazing that scientists dream of a personalized diet based on Genetics

No single food regimen works well with everyone. New research is one of comprehensive effort yet to understand why.

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A decade ago, spurred by the success of the Human Genome Project and the affordability of genetic sequencing, scientists started to explore the promise of “nutrigenomics.” Could personalized nutrition, informed by understanding of an individual’s DNA, assist in preventing and even
treat diet-related diseases?

The outcome of early studies from Harvard, Stanford and elsewhere were compelling: Genetic differences did actually predispose individuals to lose different levels of weight on different sorts of diets. A multimillion-dollar industry soon sprang up, premised on marketing DNA-based diets. But subsequent studies have failed to demonstrate any statistically significant difference between fat reduction between overweight individuals who “eat suitable for their genotype” and the ones that do not.

In fact, the result of genes on obesity has been hard to tease out; various studies put the figure at anywhere from 35 to 85 percent. Nutritionists have traditionally observed that no body weight-loss strategy works well with everyone, and that individuals show striking differences in their responses to different diets.

Reference
Diet for One? Scientists Stalk the Dream of Personalized …. https://monohealthy.com/diet-for-one-scientists-stalk-the-dream-of-personalized-nutrition-the-new-york-times/

Chicken vs. Red Meat

A new study mentioned that the prevalent belief that white meat, such as chicken, is healthier for cholesterol levels compared to red meat, such as beef, pork, or lamb.

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A new study suggests that eating poultry is just as bad for our cholesterol levels as eating red meat.

A new review breaks some bad update for meat eaters, as scholars discover that white meat is at this moment as detrimental to cholesterol as red meat.

The paper counters the extensive belief that white meat is further beneficial than red. This belief depends on a range of observational findings that have discovered a connection concerning red meat intake and a advanced danger of cardiovascular disease.

Reference

When it comes to cholesterol, is chicken as bad as red meat?. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/when-it-comes-cholesterol-chicken-bad-red-meat-n1013376

Blood pressure drugs may help reduce dementia risk

A massive innovative analysis has discovered a connection concerning choosing many classes of blood pressure-lowering medications and a minor risk of dementia amongst senior adults, adding to the conversation about the relationship concerning cognitive deterioration and high blood pressure.

People who take blood pressure-lowering medication may have a lower risk of dementia.

Dementia is an umbrella term for numerous neurodegenerative disorders, the most extensive of which is Alzheimer’s disease.

The critical trait of dementia is progressive cognitive deterioration, in which a person encounters memory loss and degeneration in their reasoning and decision-making capabilities.

Scientists are still ambiguous as to what causes dementia, but in an attempt to progress prevention stratagems, they have been examining the possible danger causes that may be a factor to the progress of this condition.

Various current studies have connected hypertension with an advanced risk of dementia. For example, a paper that appeared in the journal Neurology last year found that hypertension is coupled to a higher risk of suffering brain lesions, which are, in turn, attached to dementia.

Reference

May | 2019 | My CMS | Page 40. https://www.medicationjunction.com/2019/05/page/40/