Halfpounder’s Blog

Sleep. Get too much of it and people think you’re a lazy slug—and when I oversleep, I usually don’t feel alert and refreshed. Get too little sleep and it is definitely unhealthy. At least that’s what I’ve always heard. I haven’t taken the time to study much about sleep deprivation, but I know it’s hard on your body when you don’t get enough rest.

A daily rest period isn’t the only thing that improves our health. We need a break from our daily work. We need a time to rest from our hectic schedules. I noticed a guy I follow on Twitter mention yesterday that he is, “Taking an Internet vacation. No email, Twitter, blog reading, etc for a week starting tomorrow. Will it make me sane or drive me crazy (er)?” I like his idea. It would probably be well if all of us could take a regular break from the world-wide web. Even the Bible teaches us to rest: one day in seven (and I really enjoy my weekends.) Just how important is rest and relaxation? How critical is rest and sleep to help us lose weight and maintain good health?

My Grandfather often said a change is better than a rest. Of course, he was a workaholic—a young man during the Great Depression and through experience and necessity learned the value of industry. But I don’t think he had the best overall policy. Maybe choosing a different activity is good mentally and emotionally, but we definitely need time to physically shutdown and relax. (I must give him a bit of credit though… he closed his business one day a week and he did enjoy taking his grandson fishing—although he probably didn’t go often enough.) To maintain good health we must make time daily for sleep, take time weekly in a relaxing weekend, and annually with planned vacation time.

The article I would like to share with you today focuses on the importance of sleep. I was surprised to learn about the hormones released during sleep. I didn’t remember hearing about that before (maybe I didn’t pay close attention in health class.) I hope you find the article helpful and that it might encourage you to change your habits if you are falling short of your body’s need to rest.

Have a great 4th of July weekend,
Kirk

Get Seven Hours of Shut-eye for a Healthier Mind and Body
by Jillian Michaels, Losing it With Jillian, Online July 03, 2009

A full night’s sleep is not a luxury — it’s a basic necessity for healthy hormone balance. Once you dip below seven hours a night, you are increasing your risk of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke, depression, and obesity.

Some researchers believe that slow-wave sleep — the deep, dreamless sleep that you ideally sink into about three or four times a night — may actually regulate your metabolism. Sleep researcher break down sleep into five stages. Stage 4 slow-wave sleep, which begins about an hour after we fall asleep, is when we release our greatest pulses of growth hormone, the hormone that prompts the body to burn stored fat. When we’re young, we spend about 20 percent of our time asleep in slow-wave stages 3 and 4. But as we get older, we may only spend about 10 or even 5 percent there.

Sadly, just two nights of bad sleep will cut your satiety hormone leptin by 20 percent and increase your hunger hormone ghrelin by 30 percent. That one-two punch makes you much more likely to snack on high-carb treats, which couldn’t come at a worse time for your insulin levels. In a recent study, University of Chicago researchers found that just three nights of poor sleep made the bodies of young, healthy test subjects 25 percent less sensitive to insulin. This level of insulin resistance is comparable to that brought on by carrying 20 to 30 extra pounds.

In order to block fat-storage hormones and allow the full release of fat-burning hormones, you need to get at least seven hours of sleep a night!

JILLIAN’S TIP OF THE DAY

No Carbs Before Bed

To slip into stage 3 or 4 sleep, you need to have a high level of ghrelin before bedtime. Carbs depress ghrelin faster than any other nutrient, so eating anything, especially carbs, before bed can delay your entry into deeper sleep for several hours. If you don’t get enough restful sleep, you’re likely to be hungrier and eat more. So to help you sleep well and deeply, let the hormones do their thing and don’t eat after 9 p.m.!

So I get on the scale again this morning (because I blew off my weigh-in yesterday… slept in, whatever) and I’m up a total of 15 pounds from my best weigh-in a month or so ago. A little depressing…. but I can do this.

I’ve done real well on the bike rides: three days in a row! I’m going to get out every day. I have physical therapy scheduled the next two Mondays and I have a session scheduled with my personal trainer on Tuesday.

I also journaled my breakfast this morning and will get back in the regular routine of writing down my food. Good nutrition and exercise—that’s how you do it. I have proven it works, now I just need to get back in my dedicated mode.

I read another good article from Jillian today. It is in answer to a question asked about skipping meals. Weight Watchers approaches the idea in their new Momentum Program by tracking your levels of satisfaction. A six point scale from starving hungry to Thanksgiving feast bloated (last part described in my own words) all designed to help you be more in control of when and how much you eat. The other part of the equation is that being in control might allow you to make better nutritional choices.

The goal is to keep you at a level of satisfaction that’s as constant as possible: never too hungry and never over-full. The logic is if you are never famished you will be more likely to chose what you eat more carefully. I know everyone of you reading this blog knows what I’m talking about. You skip a meal and you are out driving around in your car and pass a fast food joint. Before you know it, you’ve stopped and you are stuffing your face with a cheeseburger (or something equally as obnoxious.) Would you make the same decision if you were not feeling so hungry? I doubt it. You would probably say to yourself, “Hmmm, I’m feeling a bit hungry. I’ll have to fix something when I get home.” Then once in your safe environment of home you will choose something more nutritious for yourself to eat.

So read this article and see if it makes any sense to you. I like to plan eating about every three hours. They are not always big meals. Sometimes I will just grab some fruit and a handful of nuts. The idea is to help maintain the feeling of satisfaction and avoid becoming beastly hungry. (I used beastly because the inner out-of-control eating me is a beast to my diet.)

Have a great Sabbath. Get out and breath some fresh air today and eat an extra piece of frui

Your good friend in healthy living,

Kirk

Losing It with Jillian, Online with Jillian Michaels, Sunday, June 28, 2009
by Jillian Michaels

SUNDAY: ASK JILLIAN

Okay to Skip Meals?

Question: I’m trying to learn to listen to my body and eat only when I am hungry, and sometimes I just don’t really want anything to eat. Is it okay to skip meals or to eat fewer than the recommended calories?
Answer: You should NOT skip meals. There are so many adverse effects to skipping meals. Not only does it slow your metabolism but it can also lead to overeating, because when you do eat, you’re overly hungry.
As for cutting your calories below your recommended allowance, remember this golden rule: Never allow your daily calorie allowance to fall below 1,200 if you are a woman and 1,500 if you are a man. Falling below these daily allowances can do real damage to your metabolism and result in excessive loss of lean muscle tissue. When you dramatically reduce your calories on a consistent basis, it can slow your metabolism or trigger a plateau.

Consistent exercise — plus the occasional high-calorie day — will help ward off a plateau.
Now, provided you are not going below the 1,200 mark, you CAN drop your daily calories below your usual allowance, but make sure that you are exercising and taking the occasional high-calorie day to help you avoid a plateau.

JILLIAN’S TIP OF THE DAY
Eat Every Four Hours

I want you to eat every four hours — breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. This way of eating keeps your stomach from rumbling and your metabolism happy. Starve yourself for any portion of the day and you cheat yourself out of a bump in your metabolic rate. When you first start to eat every four hours, you might find that you’re not very hungry when the four hours are up. But that’s the idea — you don’t want to be famished by the time you eat again. You want to head off extreme hunger, which is a signal that your blood sugar has dipped too low and will lead to cravings and overeating.

Okay, metabolictic isn’t in the dictionary, but I hope I grabbed your attention. Today I would like to share a short article that reminded me how to keep our metabolism boosted.

These are some of the ideas I’ve learned about metabolism and burning more calories: 1) Eat smaller meals more often. Instead of three regular meals a day, eat three small meals and add two or three snacks a day in between meal times. 2) Exercise regularly. If you can manage 45 minutes to an hour every other day to strength train, and walk as often as you think to eat (sarcasm people…),  you will be on track. 3) Mix cardio and strength training into your exercise. Also mix up the exercises and routines. Don’t let your muscles settle into a rut… keep them guessing what you will throw at them next. 4) Eating more protein will help keep your metabolism burning. Don’t go all Atkins on me, but don’t be afraid to eat more healthy protein. Lean meat, low-fat cheese, an egg, whey protein and lightly-salted nuts are good choices. A good place to add protein is snacks between meals. 5) Protein is more satisfying than carbs. If you are having a snack attack—try protein.

I’m struggling this week. I gained 10 pounds. (I haven’t been to Weight Watchers for a couple of weeks, but my home scale tells the tale.) I know why: lack of exercise and fluctuating emotions. But the short-term forecast is very optimistic: my knee is feeling better since surgery and my new little grandson is doing well.   I have been out for walks a couple of times lately and held my grandson for the first time yesterday.   He is still hooked up to ICU paraphernalia, but the 10 minutes I got to rock and hold him was a very precious Father’s Day present from my son and daughter-in-law.

So have a GREAT week. Recommit and work hard. I am.
Kirk

Lose Your Lard: 4 Ways to Fire Up Your Calorie Burning Engines
Submitted by Editor-in-Chief, Abs Diet Club, Men’s Health Online

Missing a meal doesn’t seem so bad. You don’t need those extra calories anyway, right?

Wrong. When you skip a meal, your body slows down your metabolism to hold on to your existing fuel supply.

Here are three better ways to burn blubber faster:

• When you work out, speed up and slow down. You can interval train with any form of cardio, from the elliptical machine to cycling.

• Perform a bodyweight routine 12 hours before or after your intense weight-training sessions. A handful of pushups and squats will send your fat burners into overdrive.

• Nosh on more protein, one of the hottest-burning food sources out there. Your body uses twice as much energy to break down protein than it does to break down carbs. Translation: Eggs in the morning, string cheese for a snack, salmon for dinner. You’re good to go.

I’ve been working out regularly at Gold’s Gym for over a year and today’s blog and article topic is of great importance to me: How does one boost lean muscle mass? Adding more lean muscle mass has a snowball effect on weight loss. Just like a heavier snowball will pick up size and momentum rolling down a hill, our bodies will become more efficient at losing weight when we develop more lean muscle mass.

I learned last year that our bodies will burn more calories to feed lean muscle than feeding fatty tissue. “Muscle tissue is about 25 times more metabolically active than fat tissue, so an additional two pounds of muscle, burns up to 100 additional calories per day.”(1) Since learning about the benefit of more lean muscle mass I have focused on keeping my metabolism high and adding more muscle to my body. The only problem seems to be my age. The older you get the slower your metabolism and the harder it is to build muscle. The following article characterizes much of the information I’ve read:

The forgotten symptoms of low testosterone levels…
Are you having a hard time building new muscle? Do you suffer from low sex drive, constant tiredness, depression, or a loss of strength? If so, low testosterone levels could be the problem.
Many think of low testosterone as something that just affects older men. However, men in their 30’s and 40’s also fall prey to low testosterone counts. According to the FDA, more than four million men suffer from low testosterone levels. Yet, 95 out of 100 men fail to seek treatment – often because they just accept the symptoms as a “normal” part of getting older.
Low testosterone levels
Testosterone is produced mainly in the Leydig cells in the male testes, and in smaller amounts by the adrenal gland near the kidneys. In women, where production is about one-tenth the total of males, roughly one-half comes from the ovaries. For men, the normal level of testosterone in the bloodstream is between 350 and 1230 nanograms per deciliter.
The production of testosterone increases rapidly at the onset of puberty. Once you reach middle age, however, testosterone levels begin to drop by about one percent each year. In the short-term, this might not sound like much. By the time you reach your 70’s and 80’s, this constant decline increases the risk of obesity, brittle bones, muscle loss and impotence. Very low testosterone levels can also increase your risk of dying from a heart attack.
Although it’s considered as a male hormone, women need testosterone too. Despite the fact they only produce a small amount, testosterone helps women maintain the strength of muscle and bone. After the menopause, testosterone levels drop. Estrogen replacement therapy can also reduce testosterone levels, leaving some postmenopausal women concerned about a lack of energy and libido.
Testosterone is a hormone that’s also very important for people wanting to shed fat while preserving (or even gaining) lean muscle. In fact, hormones such as testosterone are one reason why you can lose weight on the scales without being able to shift the fat that seems to be glued to your stomach.
Think of a hormone like the remote control for your television. In much the same way that you change the channel using the remote control, hormones can change the way your fat cells respond to the food you eat.
Your body has billions of these tiny fat cells. They expand to many times their original size in order to store fat. They also shrink when they release stored fat. Fat cells respond to hormones in one of two ways, depending on whether the signal is lipogenic or lipolytic.
The term lipo means fat, while lysis means breakdown. So, a lipolytic (pronounced lip-o-lit-ik) hormone increases the number of fat calories burned for energy. Hormones that promote fat storage, on the other hand, are known as lipogenic (pronounced lie-po-jen-ik). In other words, lipogenic hormones promote fat storage.
Fat loss
Testosterone affects fat loss in one of two ways [2]. Just like a car, your fat cells have a series of brakes and accelerators. The parts of a fat cell that accelerate the release of fat are called beta-receptors. The parts of a fat cell that put the brakes on fat loss are known as alpha- receptors.
The distribution of brakes and accelerators on each fat cell is one reason why certain parts of your body shed fat faster than others. Women, for example, often have a hard time losing fat from their hips. That’s because the fat cells in that area have a higher ratio of alpha- to beta-receptors.
If a fat cell has more beta-receptors, it will release stored fat more quickly than one with fewer beta-receptors. That’s where testosterone appears to help. By increasing the number of beta-receptors, testosterone makes it easier to lose stored fat.
What’s more, testosterone can also limit the storage of fat. When fat cells are exposed to testosterone in a test tube, the activity of lipoprotein lipase — an enzyme that promotes fat storage — is dramatically reduced.
To see whether the same thing happens in the human body, researchers from Sweden gave a group of overweight older men supplemental testosterone (in the form of a pill or an injection) for six weeks [7]. When it was measured after just one week, lipoprotein lipase activity in abdominal fat tissue dropped. Even more dramatic changes were seen six weeks later. Waist size also dropped in 9 of the 11 men.
Further research confirms the positive effect of testosterone on body composition in older men [5]. The men were aged between 65 and 87. All had low levels of free testosterone, and were treated with either transdermal testosterone (two 2.5 milligram patches per day) or fake patches containing no testosterone.
After 12 months, free testosterone levels in the group using the patches rose by 75%. There was no change in the group given the fake patches. Subjects using the testosterone patches also lost fat, with the average body fat percentage dropping from 26.3% to 24.6%.
A long-term study also confirms that men with low testosterone levels are more likely to develop a pot belly [6]. More than 100 Japanese-American men took part in the research. A number of measurements, including total body fat and testosterone levels, were taken at the start of the study. The same measurements were taken again seven years later. Body fat increased to a greater extent in the men starting the study with low testosterone levels.
The link between hormones and body fat applies to women as well as men. Specifically, researchers from Yale have uncovered a link between a hormone known as cortisol and abdominal fat in otherwise slender women [4]. In other words, women who secrete more cortisol in response to stress also have more abdominal fat.
Testing
While a blood test is one of the most common ways to measure testosterone levels, there are several less invasive methods currently available. For instance, some research shows that analyzing saliva is an accurate way to test for low testosterone levels.
Testosterone travels around your bloodstream in two forms — free testosterone or bound testosterone. Roughly two percent of total testosterone is made up of free testosterone, which is the most “active” form. The rest is attached to sex hormone-binding globulin (known as SHBG) and other proteins [3].
In aging men, it’s possible for total testosterone to appear normal, while free testosterone is actually low. If you do get your testosterone levels measured, make sure to ask for a reading of both total and free testosterone.
While a blood or saliva test is a more accurate way of establishing your levels of testosterone, you can also use The Saint Louis University Androgen Deficiency in Aging Men (ADAM) Questionnaire. Dr. John Morley, a researcher with the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, developed the self-screening tool to help identify symptoms of low testosterone in men. Choose the responses below that best describe how you have been feeling.
1. Do you have a decrease in libido (sex drive)?   2. Do you have a lack of energy?   3. Do you have a decrease in strength and/or endurance?   4. Have you lost height?   5. Have you noticed a decreased “enjoyment of life”?   6. Are you sad and/or grumpy?   7. Are your erections less strong?   8. Have you noticed a deterioration in your ability to play sports?   9. Are you falling asleep after dinner?   10. Has there been a recent deterioration in your work performance?

If you answer yes to question one or seven, or at least three of the other questions you may have low testosterone levels.
Mood
Another common sign of low testosterone is a change in mood and behavior. You find it very easy to get angry at trivial incidents. Things you used to enjoy now seem like chores. Life no longer seems to be an endless stream of possibilities.
When men who cannot produce testosterone come off hormone replacement therapy, they become irritable and depressed. Their mood improves when they resume treatment.
In fact, some researchers think that low testosterone levels are one reason why some men become grumpy, nervous and irritable as they age. Stress can also cause men of any age to experience a drop in testosterone levels.
The reason is that certain regions of your brain are “loaded” with receptors for testosterone. In fact, men with depression have free testosterone levels almost 20% lower than normal [1]. In contrast, high levels of testosterone lift your mood, giving you a feeling of well-being.
If you do have a blood test, remember that testosterone levels are generally higher in the morning and lower in the evening. However, the degree to which testosterone levels vary during the day is reduced as you age. There are also peaks and troughs during the year. Testosterone levels reach a high during June and July, and drop during winter and early spring [8].
One way to boost low testosterone levels is by making changes to what you eat and how you exercise. Changing your diet and exercise routine isn’t going to work for everyone, especially if your testosterone levels are low because of congenital problems (such as deficiencies of male hormones and rare malformation syndromes) or chronic illness, drug use, or removal of or trauma to the testicles. It’s also important to remember that changes to your diet and exercise routine will not elevate your testosterone levels to the same extent as testosterone injections.

References 1. Barrett-Connor, E., Von Muhlen, D.G., & Kritz-Silverstein, D. (1999). Bioavailable testosterone and depressed mood in older men: the Rancho Bernardo Study. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 84, 573-577?2. De Pergola, G. (2000). The adipose tissue metabolism: role of testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, 24, S59-63?3. Dunn, J.F., Nisula, B.C. & Rodbard, D. (1981). Transport of steroid hormones: binding of 21 endogenous steroids to both testosterone-binding globulin and corticosteroid-binding globulin in human plasma. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 53, 58-68?4. Epel, E.S., McEwen, B., Seeman, T., Matthews, K., Castellazzo, G., Brownell, K.D., Bell, J., & Ickovics, J.R. (2000). Stress and body shape: stress-induced cortisol secretion is consistently greater among women with central fat. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 623-632?5. Kenny, A.M., Prestwood, K.M., Gruman, C.A., Marcello, K.M, & Raisz, L.G. (2001). Effects of transdermal testosterone on bone and muscle in older men with low bioavailable testosterone levels. Journal of Gerontology, 56, M266-272?6. Tsai, E.C., Boyko, E.J., Leonetti, D.L., & Fujimoto, W.Y. (2000). Low serum testosterone level as a predictor of increased visceral fat in Japanese-American men. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, 24, 485-491?7. Rebuffe-Scrive, M., Marin, P., & Bjorntorp, P. (1991). Effect of testosterone on abdominal adipose tissue in men. International Journal of Obesity, 15, 791-795?8. Andersson, A.M., Carlsen, E., Petersen, J.H., & Skakkebaek, N.E. (2003). Variation in levels of serum inhibin B, testosterone, estradiol, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and sex hormone-binding globulin in monthly samples from healthy men during a 17-month period: possible effects of seasons. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 88, 932-937?9. Allen, N.E., Appleby, P.N., Davey, G.K., & Key, T.J. (2002). Lifestyle and nutritional determinants of bioavailable androgens and related hormones in British men. Cancer Causes Control, 13, 353-363 (2)

I’ve been taking a dietary supplement since January that is supposed to help raise my testosterone level. I haven’t seen much muscle growth yet, but then again it’s hard to find my muscles behind my sharpei saggy skin. I had to lose a hundred pounds before I finally found abdominal muscles. As the previous article suggests, I might want to have a few tests taken to determine exactly what is going on chemically in my body. If increasing my testosterone medically will help me gain more muscle mass, then I am definitely interested in seeing what my doctor has to say about it.

I know this post is getting rather long, but I also wanted to share what Jillian Michaels wrote today about paying attention to muscle-building foods and nutrition. I think any serious attempt to build lean muscle mass must include close attention to diet.

I hope you are having an excellent summer. Mine has been a rollercoaster ride already. My grandson was born five weeks early and is in the newborn intensive care unit at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.  We packed up and came home from vacation early. He’s a cute little guy, a little over 5 lbs., and our thoughts and prayers are for his continued healthy progress.

Take care everybody,
Kirk

(1) http://www.fitnessusa.com/BurnFatFaster.asp
(2) http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/test.htm

Foods That Boost Your Muscle-Building Hormones
By Jillian Michaels, Losing It ! with Jillian Michaels (online)
Saturday, June 13, 2009

Whether you’re a girl or a guy, if you’re trying to get fit, you’re in the testosterone-boosting business. (Unless you have polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, in which case your body produces too much testosterone.) Testosterone gives us energy, builds muscle, and heightens our libido. It also helps protect our bones and brains — all good stuff. Some foods can help increase this helpful hormone — here’s how you can take advantage of them.
Add some garlic and onions to your meals. A study conducted with rats found that garlic coupled with a high-protein diet increased testosterone levels. Allicin, a phytochemical found in garlic and onions, may also inhibit cortisol, which can compete with testosterone and interfere with its normal function.
Get more niacin in your diet. Niacin, a B vitamin, has been shown to boost HDL cholesterol (the “good” kind), high levels of which have been associated with high levels of testosterone. Niacin is found in many foods, including dairy products, lean meats, poultry, fish, nuts, and eggs.
Choose healthy vegetable fats. Vegetable fat intake has been shown to increase dihydrotestosterone, a form of testosterone responsible for the growth of body hair. Just take it easy on the soybean, corn, safflower, and sunflower oils — instead get your vegetable fats from heart-healthy canola and olive oils.
Eat zinc-rich foods. These include oysters, Dungeness crab, beef, pork, dark-meat chicken and turkey, yogurt, cheddar cheese, cashews, almonds, baked beans, and chickpeas. One study found that restricting zinc in healthy young men led to a 75 percent reduction in their testosterone, while supplementing zinc-deficient older men doubled their testosterone.

Jillian’s Tip of the Day

Steer Clear of These Testosterone Reducers
Just as some foods can raise your testosterone level, others can bring it down. Studies have show that alcohol reduces testosterone levels in men, and one study revealed an increase in testosterone levels among alcoholics who became sober. Just one more reason to hold yourself to one drink a day, tops. Not getting enough fat or protein can also cause testosterone to take a hit — so make sure your diet is balanced.

Sleep is an essential part of good health. I have sleep apnea and have used a CPAP machine at night for about 8 years. I remember what being a zombie felt like—and then I had the sleep study and learned how to treat it. I think the only downside of using the machine to help me breath better at night is the noise it makes. I don’t notice it much, but my wife sure does. She is a light sleeper and getting used to the nightly noise all these years has been difficult for her. I appreciate her patience.

The following article is very interesting. It raised new questions for me. I think I would like to schedule another sleep study. Now that I have lost 170 pounds (exact number tomorrow at weigh-in) I would like to see how things have changed.

It was my birthday on Monday—53 big ones—and my 30th anniversary.

Hope you have had a great week too,
Kirk

5 Sleep Myths Busted
By Jim Gorman, Men’s Health Online, May 11, 2009

What a night. The woman of your dreams appeared. Your pulse raced. Heavy breathing ensued. You do remember it, right? Oh, wait, you were asleep. And that’s not all you missed. Under cover of night, sleep floods your veins with age-defying human growth hormone. Sleep raises an army of T cells and sends them into battle against colds and infection. Sleep resets the appetite controls that tell you to not hit the turn signal when you pass a McDonald’s. And, of course, sleep helps you above the neck as well as below the belt.

“It stabilizes your waking brain, makes you more alert, and allows you to process information faster,” says David Dinges, Ph.D., who studies shut-eye at the University of Pennsylvania. “It helps you remember things and consolidate those memories.” You won’t get that from a Red Bull. So then why are we engaged in a society-wide experiment in sleep deprivation? Average nightly sleep time during the workweek in the United States is down nearly 20 minutes in the last decade, to six hours and 40 minutes. And men ages 30 to 44 are the worst offenders: Thirty percent of them say they log less than six hours of sleep at night, according to a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The price you pay for this sleep deficit is more than just lost productivity—your health can suffer too. So wake up! It’s time to shed some light on this dark territory.

Successful, driven guys should be good to go on five hours a night: MYTH
True, Napoleon slept four to five hours a night, and Thomas Edison got by on four. But world domination and the lightbulb might have been mere warm-ups had these guys slept more. Sleep scientists estimate that only 10 percent of adults are hardwired to need appreciably less (or more) sleep than the recommended seven to eight hours. And by cheating on sleep, you’re limping through life with the cranial equivalent of a torn calf muscle. Scarier still, people who are sleep-deprived often don’t even know they’ve turned into zombies. After dividing 48 volunteers into four sleep regimens—eight, six, four and zero hours a night (a.k.a. torture)—University of Pennsylvania researchers found that the six-hours-a-night group fared as poorly on measures of alertness and memory after two weeks as the no-sleep crew did after 24 hours. But participants in the six-hour group didn’t feel very sleepy even when they were performing at their worst. Accumulating a sleep deficit also leads to “microsleeps” while you’re awake. “Your brain becomes unstable and will go ‘off-line’ for half a second,” Dinges says. The more sleep-deprived you are, the more frequent and longer the lapses.

Snooze strategy: If you didn’t sleep seven to eight hours every night this past week, go to bed this weekend at your regular weekday time, but don’t set your alarm clock. Did you rise on Saturday and Sunday at the same time you would have on, say, a Tuesday? Then you may be one of those few people who can sleep less yet remain healthy. The rest of us mere mortals can begin to repay our sleep debt by dozing 10 hours a night on weekends and then sticking to seven to eight hours during the week. Your brain will use this strategy whenever you accumulate a sleep debt, says Ruth Benca, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the Wisconsin Sleep Center. Otherwise, you want to stay consistent with your sleeping.

Frequently needing to pee in the middle of the night might indicate a health problem: TRUTH
That first stumble to the bathroom in the dark can be chalked up to the beer you drank watching the Knicks game. The second one can spell trouble. “If you habitually take two or more bathroom trips a night, you probably have obstructive sleep apnea,” says Alex Chediak, M.D., medical director of the Miami Sleep Disorders Center. With sleep apnea, the soft tissue at the back of your throat blocks your upper airway during sleep, stopping your breathing for anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute or even longer. This can occur hundreds of times in a night, depriving you of restorative deep sleep and starving your vital organs of oxygen. No wonder sleep apnea has been linked to heart disease, hypertension, and mood disorders.
But why does it wake you up to pee? Because those mini-suffocations result in lower circulating oxygen levels, your heart pumps harder, raising your blood pressure. As excess fluid builds up in your veins, a feedback loop triggers the release of a pressure-relieving diuretic, making you need to pee. An enlarged prostate and high blood sugar can also prompt middle-of-the-night bowl breaks. But with those conditions, says Dr. Chediak, you’ll pee a lot day and night.

Snooze strategy: Raising the pillow end of your bed by a few inches can help prevent that tissue from blocking your throat. Snoring could also be waking you in the middle of the night, and one major cause is nasal obstruction. Wash out mucus and irritants by mixing 1/4 teaspoon of table salt in 2 cups of warm water and flushing your nose twice a day using a medical or bulb syringe. Japanese researchers found that people with nasal obstruction were twice as likely to experience daytime fatigue as people with clear passageways. For video instruction on the technique, visit mayoclinic.com and search “nasal irrigation.” If the peeing persists around the clock, schedule a prostate exam and have your blood-sugar level checked by your doctor after an overnight fast.

The post-lunch bonk can’t be avoided: MYTH
Many Europeans scarf down a carb-loaded lunch and then shut down from 1 to 4 in the afternoon. But with unemployment soaring, let’s assume a three-hour nap won’t play well at the office. If you find yourself entering what amounts to a food coma after lunch, you’re probably eating too many carbohydrates in the morning. And what you’re not getting enough of is making it worse. “A postlunch crash is a telltale sign of poor nighttime sleep, as is dozing in meetings, theater performances, or similar environments,” says Dr. Benca. Not sure if you’re experiencing a modest dip or a true crash? Take a minute or two to fill out the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. This online questionnaire is the same one sleep docs use on their new patients.

Snooze strategy: Along with improving your nightly sleep pattern, eat three small meals spaced two hours apart in the morning. Try a protein shake at 7 a.m., two eggs and a small cup of oatmeal at 9, and an apple and a handful of almonds at 11. You’ll consume fewer carbohydrates, and you won’t be as likely to overeat at lunchtime. In fact, a salad with grilled chicken and avocado on top should be enough to keep your mind focused and your head off the desk all afternoon, says Keith Berkowitz, M. D., medical director of the Center for Balanced Health in New York City.

Waking up at 4 a. m. every day just means I’m an early riser: MYTH
More likely, you—along with 60 million other Americans—have insomnia, an inability to fall or stay asleep. “Insomniacs wake at the slightest disturbance and feel unrefreshed in the morning,” says Dr. Benca. Insufficient sleep exposes the sufferer to a litany of performance and health problems. In a study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, researchers found insomniacs were more than twice as likely as normal sleepers to call in sick for long periods.

Snooze strategy: Let’s assume that you’ve already cut back on caffeine. What you want to do is make your sleep more efficient, says W. Christopher Winter, M.D., medical director of the sleep medicine center at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, Va. Dr. Winter likens poor sleep to a bookcase missing a few volumes, representing gaps in your sleep. By going to bed an hour or so later, those gaps won’t be as long as or frequent. Soon enough, you should be waking up after the roosters, not before them.

A tiring workout before bed will help me sleep more soundly: MYTH
Regular exercise is one of the best sleep-promoting remedies, but working out late at night risks leaving you wide-eyed in bed. “It’s easiest to fall asleep when your core body temperature goes relatively quickly from very warm to very cold,” says Dr. Chediak. “After exercise, that cooling process takes four to six hours.” It’s better to take a hot bath or sauna session close to bedtime. “Anything that raises core body temperature will help get you started on sleep,” says Dr. Chediak. He says the cooldown period into the sleep zone following a bath takes just two hours—half that of an exercise session.

Snooze strategy: Work out—but do it first thing in the morning for all-day energy and a quick drift into deep, restful sleep. Studies show that exercise improves sleep as effectively as a class of sleeping pills that includes Restoril and Halcion.

Alcohol can help me sleep at night: MYTH
Only if you equate a good night’s sleep with passing out drunk on your girlfriend’s sofa. Alcohol messes with the normal sleep cycle, especially the back end of the cycle. “Four hours into sleep, alcohol wears off and leaves you in an excitable state,” says Dr. Chediak. You’ll sleep lighter, wake more easily, and be hung over when you do wake. After three nights of intoxicated slumber, even the initial knockout punch begins to wane. Dr. Chediak warns of another drawback to using a six-pack as a sleep aid. “Being a muscle relaxant as well as sedative, alcohol can even create sleep apnea symptoms in snorers who don’t otherwise have the condition,” he says. Unfortunately, liquor is a go-to therapy for many sheep counters, used as often as over-the-counter sleeping pills and more often than prescription sleep meds.

Snooze strategy: Be consistent with your overall schedule and you won’t need booze. “Your internal clock is a structure in your brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus,” says Dr. Winter. “To set this clock, eat your breakfast, lunch, and dinner at exactly the same time every day for a week.”

Provided by Men’s Health
URL: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100235358>1=31036

I really enjoy reading about nutrition and weight loss on the internet. As you have discovered, I am beginning to have a few favorite places to read. One of these is the info shared from Jillian Michaels (of TV’s Biggest Loser.)

I have immediate family members with diabetes. I haven’t really understood how insulin works, or what the disease is all about. It was interesting to read from Jillian’s article how insulin works in our bodies. I understand better why it is important to eat nutritious foods and avoid processed sugar. I hope you find this article interesting and maybe you too will feel an urgency to make better food choices.

Have a good week,
Kirk

Get a Grip on Insulin’s Ups and Downs
By Jillian Michaels
Losing it with Jillian Michaels, April 28, 2009

One of the endocrine system’s most important hormones is insulin, which plays a critical role in how your body uses food. When you eat, your digestive system breaks food down into glucose, and the glucose circulates in your bloodstream (where it’s often referred to as blood sugar). In response to the rise in glucose after a meal, the pancreas releases surges of insulin, whose job is to clean the glucose from the blood. Insulin directs some of the glucose to the body’s cells, which use it for energy. Some of the glucose is diverted to the liver, where it’s converted into glycogen (stored glucose) for later use by the muscles. Insulin then helps turn any leftover glucose into fatty acids and stores them in fat cells, where they can be tapped later for fuel.

Problems arise when your body starts creating too much insulin, which can happen for several reasons. One of the most common is that you ate too many highly processed, refined carbs, such as white bread or pasta. Such carbs increase blood sugar dramatically, requiring a rush of insulin to clear the blood. If your blood sugar surge is really dramatic (as it would be if you ate those refined carbs on an empty stomach), insulin overreacts and works twice as hard to clean the sugar from the blood. This overefficient removal of sugar means that your blood sugar concentration drops, with the result that you feel hungry again and crave (and probably eat) more carbs. That’s the postsugar “crash and binge” cycle, the root of sugar addiction. In addition, when your muscles are still fueled from your last snack, the insulin converts those extra calories into fat. And as long as large amounts of insulin remain in the bloodstream, your body won’t have a chance to tap into your fat stores for fuel — so you won’t burn any fat, either.
This cycle can eventually lead to insulin resistance, a condition in which your body produces insulin but the cells become insensitive to it — as a result, the insulin can’t do its job to lower the glucose concentration in the blood. Insulin resistance is a precursor of type 2 diabetes and is common among overweight people. Elevated levels of glucose in your blood is a surefire sign of it.

There is hope for preventing the problem. The key is to maintain low levels of insulin by eating whole foods, pairing carbs with protein, and avoiding highly processed carbs. When your insulin-release mechanism works the right way, it helps keep your weight in check. When it’s not working, you’re in trouble. If you can take control of your insulin’s ups and downs, you’ll be primed to lose weight and restore your body’s hormone power!

I’ve written before about how important it is to increase metabolism to help with weight loss. One of the keys I have found is eating a good breakfast every day. I liked the following article I’m including with this post because it encourages a protein-rich breakfast. Protein for breakfast is a great way to increase your metabolism and feel satisfied throughout a busy morning.

The article also recommends increased activity and improved nutrition. I hope you find today’s Daily Dose helpful. These ideas have been very helpful in my weight-loss journey.

Kirk

See Your Six-Pack By Memorial Day
Men’s Health Daily Dose, April 21, 2009

Memorial Day is less than 5 weeks from today—beaches will open, shirts come off, and your winter workout habits will be writ large, whether you’ve spent the cold snap working your butt off … or sitting on your butt, consuming mountains of foods from this deadly list.

The great news? Even if you’ve slipped, there’s time to strip fat and build muscle and fitness that will show, whether you’re on the beach or leapfrogging a defender for an easy basket. The following strategies have helped the guys on the Belly Off! Challenge lose as many as 35 pounds since the program began 5 weeks ago.

1. Fix your breakfast. If you’re not eating the morning meal, start: You’ll kickstart your metabolism to burn more calories throughout the day, and fuel up so you don’t crash (and binge) by lunch. Add protein to supercharge your results. Try this high protein pancake breakfast alternative:

Gregg Avedon Fuji Apple Whey Protein Pancakes
www.greggavedon.com

The Fuji Apple whey protein adds great taste and has 26 grams (g) of protein and only 3 g carbohydrates per scoop. Butter extract supplies a nice aroma.

3 tsp baking powder (Try Featherweight brand. No sodium or carbs.)
1 c protein (2 scoops Cytosport Evopro Fuji Apple whey)
1 c all-purpose flour
2 whole eggs
1 c cottage cheese (I use Friendship “No Salt Added” 1 percent cottage cheese.)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter extract (Try McCormick.)
1 c water
1 tsp olive oil (for the pan)

Combine the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl. Add the eggs, cottage cheese, vanilla and butter extracts, and water, and mix it up. While you let it sit for 10 minutes, spread the olive oil in a nonstick pan. Then take a paper towel and wipe off most of it. Set your heat to medium, and once your pan is hot, mix the batter again and pour about a 6-inch pancake onto the pan. When bubbles form on top, flip it. Makes 8 pancakes

Per serving (two pancakes): 270 calories, 25 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 5 g fat, 78 milligrams sodium

2. Up the intensity. Don’t settle for plodding, boring workouts—change your pace to increase your results. Lift faster to build explosive power that will speed your strength gains. Switch slow-going cardio for this fat-blasting alternative, and mix in some sprint work to carve your core.

3. Cut out this color: When it comes to your waist, white’s not right—carbs without color are usually refined, meaning they’ll build your belly instead of blasting it. Stick to colorful stuff: whole grain breads and pastas, fruits and vegetables, and lean red meat. You’ll stay full, melt fat, and down more nutrients than you’ll find in the pale stuff.

I have thought a lot over the weekend about the relationship between eating carbohydrates and serotonin production. My wife made a comment to me about people who use medication for depression. She said individuals who use selective reuptake inhibitors, such as Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and others in this class, may have a distinct advantage when losing weight. Her point being that patients taking the medication do not have to rely so much on the body’s natural ability to produce sufficient serotonin and other brain chemicals for mood stabilization. If a person isn’t battling the effects of depression, they may be more likely to find success when altering their normal nutrition habits to facilitate weight loss. Chocolate may in fact provide a chemical mood enhancement—something much more than a psychological connection as I mentioned in my last blog (namely tryptophan and endorphins).

I’ve really pondered this. The more I study parts of good nutrition, the more I am amazed at how complex the process can be. Although some diet plans may claim rapid weight loss, the long-term effect of such plans can have adverse consequences to one’s health and emotional well-being. Especially in light of how consuming certain foods affect the natural mood chemicals of the brain.

These are some of the ideas I’ve learned about this weekend:
• Carbohydrates are necessary for good nutrition. It seems the best nutritional approach is one that incorporates proteins, carbs, and fats.
• Simple carbs have their place in good nutrition, but an effort should be made to utilize complex carbs more frequently. When choosing simple carbs processed sugars should be avoided as much as possible. Although simple carbs can give a more immediate benefit of energy, they are more short-term in nature than complex carbohydrates. Your body will use the simple carbs faster, but then will crave more when their immediate benefit has depleted.
• Carbs and proteins are best not taken together. Protein can actually block the chemical benefits of carbohydrates on your brain. (Amazing….think about all the ways we fix carbs and protein together in typical combinations.)

I’m not an expert and I have much more to learn, but articles such as the three I offer below may be helpful to you. (They have been very interesting and helpful to me.) I need to commit to regular study of nutrition—if I really want to maintain a healthy body; I better learn how to do it.

Take care,
Kirk

Simple vs. complex carbohydrates
by Lynn Grieger, R.D., C.D.E.

Many people are confused about the differences between simple and complex carbohydrates and many popular diet books seem to only make it more confusing.
Carbohydrates are one of three macronutrients in our diets that provide calories. The other two are protein and fat. Carbohydrates provide most of the energy needed in our daily lives, both for normal body functions such as heartbeat, breathing and digestion and for exercise such as cycling, walking and running.
Carbohydrates are considered simple or complex based upon their chemical structure and both types contain four calories per gram. Both are also digested into a blood sugar called glucose, which is then used to fuel our bodies for work or exercise.
In the past few years, simple carbohydrates have become known as the ‘bad’ carbs, while complex carbs seem to be designated as the ‘good’ ones. Although this is based on more hype than science, here are the reasons why:
Simple carbohydrates are digested quickly. Many simple carbohydrates contain refined sugars and few essential vitamins and minerals. Examples include fruits, fruit juice, milk, yoghurt, honey, molasses and sugar.
Complex carbohydrates take longer to digest and are usually packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals. Examples are vegetables, breads, cereals, legumes and pasta.
Most experts recommend that 50 to 60 per cent of the total calories in our diet come from carbohydrates. The bulk of the carbs we consume should be complex and most of the simple ones should come from fruits and milk or yogurt, which also contain vitamins and minerals.
Avoid getting the bulk of your carbs from refined foods high in sugar, since they are usually low in the nutrients we need to maintain health and energy levels.

http://www.ivillage.co.uk/dietandfitness/nutrition/carbs/qas/0,,249_156580,00.html

What’s the Difference Between Simple and Complex Carbohydrates?
By Debra Manzella, R.N., About.com

Carbohydrates are divided into two types, simple and complex. The classification is based on the chemical structure and reflects how quickly sugar is digested and absorbed.
Simple carbohydrates are also called simple sugars and are chemically made of one or two sugars. A simple sugar can be just what the name implies, the sugar in your sugar bowl. Things like candy, syrups, and soda pop are also straightforward examples of simple carbs. They are absorbed quickly — just think how fast sugar-based candy melts in your mouth.
Simple carbs also include foods such as fruit and milk. These are better sources of simple carbs because they contain vitamins and fiber, and also important nutrients that your body needs, like calcium.
Complex carbohydrates are also known as starches and are made of three or more linked sugars. Grains such as bread, pasta, oatmeal and rice are complex carbs, as well as some vegetables like broccoli, corn, legumes such as kidney beans and chick peas. They take the longest to digest.

http://diabetes.about.com/od/carbohydratefaq/f/typesofcarbs.htm

Carbs are essential for effective dieting and good mood, Wurtman says
Elizabeth A. Thomson, MIT News Office, February 20, 2004

During the current low-carb/pro-protein diet craze, carbohydrates have been demonized — accused of causing weight gain and blamed as the reason people can’t lose weight. Do they deserve this stigma? Not according to MIT researcher Judith Wurtman.
Wurtman, director of the Program in Women’s Health at the MIT Clinical Research Center, and colleagues have found that when you stop eating carbohydrates, your brain stops regulating serotonin, a chemical that elevates mood and suppresses appetite. And only carbohydrate consumption naturally stimulates production of serotonin.
“When serotonin is made and becomes active in your brain, its effect on your appetite is to make you feel full before your stomach is stuffed and stretched,” said Wurtman. “Serotonin is crucial not only to control your appetite and stop you from overeating; it’s essential to keep your moods regulated.”
Antidepressant medications are designed to make serotonin more active in the brain and extend that activity for longer periods of time to assist in regulating moods. Carbohydrates raise serotonin levels naturally and act like a natural tranquilizer.
Wurtman’s husband, Richard Wurtman, the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Professor at MIT and the director of the Clinical Research Center, along with former graduate student John Fernstrom, discovered that the brain makes serotonin only after a person consumes sweet or starchy carbohydrates. But the kicker is that these carbohydrates must be eaten in combination with very little or no protein, the Wurtmans’ combined research determined.
So a meal like pasta or a snack of graham crackers will allow the brain to make serotonin, but eating chicken and potatoes or snacking on beef jerky will actually prevent serotonin from being made. This can explain why people may still feel hungry even after they have eaten a 20-ounce steak. Their stomachs are full but their brains may not be making enough serotonin to shut off their appetites.
And what do protein dieters (especially women) miss most after the second week? Carbohydrates. Women have much less serotonin in their brains than men, so a serotonin-depleting diet will make women feel irritable.
“There are people we call carbohydrate cravers who need to eat a certain amount of carbohydrates to keep their moods steady,” said, Wurtman, co-founder of Adara, a weight-management company whose programs are based on her research. “Carbohydrate cravers experience a change in their mood, usually in the late afternoon or mid-evening. And with this mood change comes a yearning to eat something sweet or starchy.”
Thus, it’s not just a matter of will power or mind over matter; the brain is in control and sends out signals to eat carbohydrates. According to Wurtman’s clinical studies, if the carbohydrate craver eats protein instead, he or she will become grumpy, irritable or restless. Furthermore, filling up on fatty foods like bacon or cheese makes you tired, lethargic and apathetic. Eating a lot of fat, she said, will make you an emotional zombie.
“When you take away the carbohydrates, it’s like taking away water from someone hiking in the desert,” Wurtman said. “If fat is the only alternative for a no- or low-carb dieter to consume to satiate the cravings, it’s like giving a beer to the parched hiker to relieve the thirst — temporary relief, but ultimately not effective.”

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/carbs.html

Excerpt from “Chocolate,” homepage of Chocolate.org

Chocolate also contains tryptophan. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid. It is the rate-limiting step in the production of the mood-modulating neurotransmitter serotonin. Enhanced serotonin function typically diminishes anxiety. Yet tryptophan can normally be obtained from other sources as well; and only an unusually low-protein, high-carbohydrate meal will significantly increase its rate of intake into the brain.
Like other palatable sweet foods, consumption of chocolate triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s endogenous opiates. Enhanced endorphin-release reduces the chocolate-eater’s sensitivity to pain. Endorphins probably contribute to the warm inner glow induced in susceptible chocoholics. This sensation explains why chocolate gifts are a great way to bring joy to a loved one.

http://www.chocolate.org/

Hello Everyone,

A special thanks to David Blumel for sending me the following cartoon:

PRICELESS….

My life has changed dramatically in the last year. The food I eat, the foods I crave, and exercise are the biggest changes. I find that I have to do some kind of activity every day. When I don’t—I feel like I’m missing out and letting myself down. My body seems to crave moving more.

I also wanted to share a short article I read today to reinforce dumping empty calories: sodas. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Tomorrow is my one year anniversary at Weight Watchers. I’m really excited to weigh in and see how I’ve done.

Bye for now,
Kirk

DRINK LESS SODA, LOSE THE GUT FOR GOOD
Daily Dose, Men’s Health Online, April 3, 2009

Cut back on liquid calories to lose more weight, researchers say

Trying to lose weight, but the scale won’t budge? Focus less on what you’re eating and more on what you’re sucking down with a straw.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted a study with 810 adults aged 25 to 79 years old, and found those who cut liquid calories lost more weight than those who cut calories from food alone.
And beer wasn’t the beverage to blame. Researchers found that sugar-sweetened beverages were the leading source of liquid calories.
Doctors project 75 percent of U.S. adults could be overweight or obese by 2015, increasing the risk for adverse health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and heart disease.
Improve your health and lose more weight by avoiding sugary soft drinks—especially this worst drink in America, which packs almost 13 teaspoons of sugar. Swap it for a glass of orange juice instead and you’ll knock off almost half of the sweet stuff.

Hi Everyone,

As you have read previously, one of my favorite topics is learning how to keep my metabolism high and helping me burn unwanted fat. The following article caught my eye and I liked what it had to say. Most of the foods discussed I have tried to make a part of my diet during the past year. What this article offers is an explanation of why these foods work to help you become more healthy.

I do have one disclaimer: I do not encourage anyone to drink tea and coffee. I like some of the ideas the article proposes, but I personally believe these beverages are not good for you. I have felt this way my whole life having been raised to believe this as part of my religious health code. I also don’t smoke or use any tobacco products, don’t drink alcohol, and don’t use drugs for recreational purposes.

I hope you are having a good week. I stepped on my scale at home this morning and it looks like my Weight Watcher’s weigh-in Saturday should be good. (I estimate a loss of about 5 more pounds this week…I’ll let you know.)

Take care,
Kirk

15 Fired-Up Foods that Burn Away Pounds
Men’s Health Lists, Online

Milk, Whole Grain Cereal, Oats

Secret Ingredients: Calcium, complex carbohydrates, and fiber?

How they work: Complex carbohydrates and fiber pump up metabolism by keeping insulin levels low after you eat. That’s good, because spikes in the production of insulin send a signal to the body that it’s time to start storing fat. And in order to stockpile fat, your body has to slow down your metabolism, causing you to burn fewer calories, says Margaret McNurlan, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition and medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Since oatmeal breaks down slowly in the stomach, it causes less of a spike in insulin levels than foods like bagels, she says.
Besides helping to keep insulin production down, eating breakfast can also help stoke your daily calorie burn. When the U.S. Navy studied the metabolisms and eating habits of a group of its personnel, it found that eating breakfast helped raise the men’s metabolisms by as much as 10 percent. “By skipping meals, you slow down your metabolism and prime your body to store fat,” says McNurlan.
The calcium in milk is a metabolic trigger as well. A University of Tennessee study found that dieters who consumed between 1,200 and 1,300 milligrams (mg) of calcium a day lost nearly twice as much weight as dieters getting less calcium.

Jalapenos, Habaneros, Cayennes

Secret Ingredient: Capsaicin—the chemical in peppers that gives them their bite?

How it works: By speeding up your heart rate.

A study from the late ’80s found that eating a single spicy meal can boost your metabolism by up to 25 percent, with the spike in calorie burning lasting for up to 3 hours after you finish eating. More recently, a study from Laval University in Quebec found that men who consumed coffee plus red pepper-packed snacks and meals were able to burn nearly 1,000 more calories a day than a control group.
Small snacks can also help keep your body from running out of fuel-preventing those 3 p.m. office blahs. “When you restrict the number of calories your body has for fuel, your metabolic rate can drop temporarily,” says Susan Roberts, Ph.D., chief of the energy-metabolism laboratory at Tufts University in Boston. That makes it easier to pack on the pounds and harder to burn them off again.

Green Tea, Coffee

Secret Ingredients: Caffeine and a chemical in the tea called EGCG?

How they work: Caffeine helps speed up your heart rate. The faster your heart beats, the more calories you burn. EGCG works in a similar way, but instead of revving up your heart, it causes your brain and nervous system to run more quickly-again helping you burn more calories.
In studies, researchers found that a combination of caffeine and a 90-mg dose of EGCG taken three times a day can help you burn an extra 80 calories a day. And that’s just when your body’s at rest. A study conducted by the Canadian government found that soldiers who consumed caffeine in the 12 hours prior to a physical-fitness test not only were able to work out longer before becoming exhausted, but also consumed more oxygen while working out. The body’s oxygen requirements are directly related to the speed of-guess what-your metabolism, so the more oxygen you use, the more calories you burn during your workout.

Lean Beef, Pork, Chicken, Turkey

Secret Ingredient: Protein

How it works: It takes more energy for your body to digest the protein in meat than it does for it to digest carbohydrates or fat, according to Doug Kalman, R.D., director of nutrition at Miami Research Associates, a nationally recognized pharmaceutical-research facility. “That means that the more protein you eat, the harder your body has to work to digest it, and the more calories you’ll burn in the process,” he says.
When researchers at Arizona State University compared the benefits of a high-protein diet with those of a high-carbohydrate diet, they found that people who ate a high-protein diet burned more than twice as many calories in the hours following their meal as those eating carbs. Even better, researchers in Denmark found that men who substituted protein for 20 percent of the carbs in their diets were able to boost their metabolisms, increasing the number of calories they burned each day by up to 5 percent.

Salmon, Tuna, Sardines

Secret Ingredient: Omega-3 fatty acids

How they work: By altering levels of a hormone called leptin in your body. Several recent studies suggest that leptin directly influences your metabolism, determining whether you burn calories or store them as fat.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that mice with low leptin levels have faster metabolisms and are able to burn fat more quickly than animals with higher leptin levels. The best way to lower your leptin? Eat fish.
Mayo Clinic researchers studying the diets of two African tribes-one of which frequently ate fish and one of which didn’t-found that fish eaters had leptin levels nearly five times lower than the levels found in tribes that primarily ate vegetables.
The good news, if you don’t like fish: Fish-oil supplements may work just as well as the stuff with scales. French researchers found that men who replaced 6 grams of fat in their diets with 6 grams of fish oil were able to boost their metabolisms and lose an average of 2 pounds in just 12 weeks.

http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/abs_diet_foods/Milk_Whole_Grain_Cereal_Oats.php