If you’re overweight, losing just 10% of your body weight is associated with a myriad of health benefits, including lowering blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood sugar, and reducing your risk for heart disease. Not only that, experts say, but this kind of weight loss is easier to attain and maintain, setting you up for success in the long run.
Your Weight “Set Point”

Just as your body temperature is programmed to stay around 98.6 degrees, your body weight is naturally regulated to stay within a range of 10%-20%, says Thomas Wadden, PhD, director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at University of Pennsylvania Medical School. This weight range is known as the “set point.”

A complex set of hormones, chemicals, and hunger signals help your body naturally maintain your weight within this range, says American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD.

It is not just a matter of genetics, though. Your eating and exercise habits can also help to determine your set point.

“Overeating swamps the internal regulatory system, and, as a result, the set point increases — which is much easier to do than it is to lower it,” says Wadden. The body adjusts to the higher weight and “resets” the set point to defend the new weight.

It is difficult, but not impossible, to set your range lower. “With changes in healthy eating and exercise behavior, you can lower your set point,” says Blatner.
The 10% Solution to Weight Loss

A recent book, Break Through Your Set Point: How to Finally Lose the Weight You Want and Keep It Off, by George Blackburn, MD, suggests that maintaining a 10% loss for six months to a year helps your body adjust to the lower weight and thus reset the set point.

Wadden explains that when you lose large amounts of weight at once, you set up an internal struggle and hormones like ghrelin spike to make you hungrier as your body tries to defend its comfortable range.

Instead, experts recommend that you try losing 10% the old-fashioned way — by slowly changing eating and exercise behaviors — then maintain this new weight for a few months before trying to lose more. Not only will your body get the signal to lower its “set point,” but you’ll give yourself a chance to get used to new food choices, smaller portions, and regular exercise.

“When patients lose 10% it may not be the pant size they want, but they start to realize how a little weight loss impacts their health in very positive ways,” says Blatner. “They feel better, sleep better, have more energy or less joint pain, and some people are able to reduce medications.”

source: webmd

Picking up the pieces after mood swings can be hard. The people whom you need most — especially your friends and family — may be angry with you or reluctant to help.

The best way to avoid these mood swings is to get treatment for bipolar disorder. But unfortunately, periods of hypomania, mania, or depression aren’t completely preventable. Even people who always take their medication and are careful with their health can still have mood swings from time to time.

So that’s why it’s important to catch changes in your mood early before they develop into something serious.

Mood Swing Triggers in Bipolar Disorder

At first, mood swings may take you by surprise if you have bipolar disorder. But over time, you might start to see patterns or signs that you’re entering a period of mania or depression. Aside from a shift in your mood, look for changes in your:

* Sleep patterns
* Energy level
* Alcohol or drug use
* Sex drive
* Self-esteem
* Concentration

You may also discover particular “triggers” — situations or events that can provoke a period of mania or depression. Some people find they’re more likely to become depressed or manic during stressful times at work or during holidays. Many people see seasonal patterns to their mood changes. Of course, not everyone can identify triggers. Also, some triggers can’t be anticipated or avoided, like a serious illness or a traumatic event.

One good way to see patterns or triggers in your bipolar disorder is to keep a journal. Make note of big events, stresses, your medication dosage, and the amount of sleep you’re getting. Over time, you might see some patterns emerge.

If you know what your triggers are, you can prepare for times when you might be most vulnerable. Ask for more help from coworkers. Have your family and friends check in more often so you get extra support.

If you see the signs of potential trouble, get help. Don’t wait for the mood swing to pass on its own. With quick intervention, you might be able to stop a very minor mood swing from becoming a serious problem.

The Appeal of Mania in Bipolar Disorder

When people with bipolar disorder are depressed, they almost always know that something is wrong. Nobody likes feeling that way.

But it’s different for people who are hypomanic or manic. Often, they don’t think anything is wrong. Or if they notice a difference in their mood and personality, they think it’s an improvement.

Mania and hypomania can be seductive. You might feel more energized, creative, and interesting. You might be able to get extraordinary amounts of work done. So what’s the problem?

The fact is that manic phases often turn destructive. Some consequences of a manic episode can’t be undone. You can wipe out your savings account. You can have affairs that ruin your marriage. You can lose your job. Most dangerous of all, mania can make you do things that risk your life or the lives of others.

Although hypomania or mania can feel good at the moment, in the long run, you’ll be happier, healthier, more productive, and more successful if you can maintain a stable mood.
WebMD

When Americans started to pack on pounds a few decades ago, fat was fingered as public enemy number one. “Low-fat” became the rallying cry for healthy eating. And so began one of the most misguided public health campaigns in history.

Most of us know by now that the main villains are saturated fats, found chiefly in meat and high-fat dairy products, and trans fats, found in fried foods, cakes, crackers, and some margarines. They raise total cholesterol levels and gum up arteries. Unsaturated fats, which mostly come from plants and fish, are essential to good health.

But even the good fat/bad fat message is turning out to be more complicated than nutritionists once thought, as researchers explore the health effects of the many different kinds of fatty acids. With evidence emerging that healthy fats not only improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels but also reduce inflammation, fats are emerging as one of the hottest new functional foods.

Polyunsaturated vs. Monounsaturated: Choosing the Healthiest Oil

“We can now say unequivocally that unsaturated fats protect against heart disease,” says John Brunzell, MD, professor emeritus in the division of metabolism at the University of Washington, Seattle.

* In an analysis of data from 60 trials, researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands found that cutting back on carbohydrates and consuming more polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats decreases the level of harmful LDL cholesterol and increases protective HDL cholesterol.

* The more recent Optimal Macronutrient Intake Trial for Heart Health (OmniHeart) study showed that a diet rich in unsaturated fats also lowers blood pressure and reduces overall heart disease risk.

Debates have long raged about whether monounsaturates or polyunsaturates have the edge. The Maastricht University study found a slight advantage to polyunsaturated fats for improving the ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) to total cholesterol. But studies of people with diabetes, who have a high risk of heart disease, conducted at Trinity College in Dublin suggest that monounsaturated fats may offer more protection.

In the end, few of us keep count of grams of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat, of course. All edible oils are a blend of these two types of fat. Edible oils also contain at least some saturated fat. The amount of saturated fat in oil may be a more important consideration than the ratio of monos to polys.

* Olive oil, for instance, contains 73% monounsaturated fat, 11% polyunsaturated fat, and 14% saturated fat.

* Soybean oil, by contrast, is 24% mono, 61% poly, and 15% saturated fat.

* Canola oil wins high marks. It’s 62% monounaturated, 32% polyunsaturated, and only 6% saturated fat — by far the lowest among edible oils.

A 2007 study by researchers at the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign found that substituting canola oil for other vegetable oils and canola oil-based margarine for other spreads could significantly lower saturated fat levels in the American diet. What’s more, canola oil is also a good source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, which may be especially crucial to good health.

Of course, studies of the Mediterranean diet suggest that olive oil, which has a very different fatty acid profile, also offers potent protection against heart disease.

“In fact, there are many healthy unsaturated oils,” says Brunzell. “The issue isn’t choosing the healthiest, but encouraging people to use the ones they like.”

Omega-6 Versus Omega-3: Finding the Healthiest Balance

Polyunsaturated fats can be subdivided into omega-6, found in most plants, and omega-3 fatty acids, found predominantly in fish oils. Many researchers think the balance of these two fats may be the most critical measure of a healthy diet.

Currently, the modern diet is tipped heavily toward omega-6s, says Floyd Chilton, PhD, director of the Bontanical Lipids Center at Wake Forest University. “In the average western diet, the ratio is about 9:1 omega-6s to omega-3s. In some individuals we’ve studied, the ratio is as high as 40:1.”

No one knows what the optimum balance should be. According to Chilton, there’s good evidence that the diet of hunter-gatherers — and thus the diet our bodies evolved to eat — had a ratio of 2:1 omega-6s to omega-3s.

Restoring something close to that balance could help fight many of the chronic diseases that plague us, Chilton believes. “Omega-6s fatty acids regulate genes that spark inflammation. And inflammation is increasingly being seen as the central process in heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and other chronic health problems.”

Omega-3s, in contrast, tamp down inflammation and have been linked to many health benefits, including lowering triglyceride levels, guarding against dangerous irregular heart rhythms, and preventing plaque from breaking away from the lining of arteries. A 2006 review in The American Journal of Cardiology found that consuming omega-3s from fish, nuts, or soybean oil can lower cardiovascular risk by as much as 60%.
Contains Omega-3s: Can You Believe the Latest Health Claim?

The good news about omega-3s hasn’t been lost on food manufacturers.

“Contains omega-3s” is the hottest new health claim on packages.

In 2000, omega-3 supplementation was a $100 million business, according to Chilton. By 2007, it had ballooned into a $3 billion business, which is expected to more than double by 2011.

Unfortunately, the omega-3s touted on the packages today are usually in the form of flaxseed oil, which is not as biologically available as omega-3s from fish oil. More and more manufacturers are beginning to switch to fish oil, according to Chilton, using a double encapsulation technology that prevents the flavor and smell from affecting food. The functional food industry is also working overtime to develop plant sources of omega-3s that are biologically active.

But not everyone’s sold on the idea that a healthy diet should be built on fortified foods and supplements. “There’s a long history of nutrients being taken out of food and put into pills, from vitamin E to beta carotene, and the results have not been encouraging,” says Brunzell. He thinks people should be encouraged to get their nutrients from foods that are known to be healthy — fish, nuts, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.

Cholesterol-Lowering Spreads: What You Should Know

One of the first fat-based functional foods to hit the market were spreads and margarines made with substances from plants called sterols and stanols, which have been shown to lower LDL. These substances are similar in size to the cholesterol molecule but they work by blocking the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines. Plant stanols or sterols occur naturally in foods such as fruits and vegetables, but not in high enough concentration to have an impact on cholesterol. So they are concentrated and added back to select foods.

The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends eating 2 grams of plant sterols or stanols a day if you have high cholesterol. But for people who do not have high cholesterol, both the NCEP and the American Heart Association do not recommend foods enriched with plant sterols. Instead, those people should get the plant sterols found naturally in vegetables and fruits.

“Most people can get the same benefits from using unsaturated oils and eating plenty of vegetables, which are the natural source of sterols and stanols,” says Brunzell.

By Peter Jaret
WebMD

When Americans started to pack on pounds a few decades ago, fat was fingered as public enemy number one. “Low-fat” became the rallying cry for healthy eating. And so began one of the most misguided public health campaigns in history.

Most of us know by now that the main villains are saturated fats, found chiefly in meat and high-fat dairy products, and trans fats, found in fried foods, cakes, crackers, and some margarines. They raise total cholesterol levels and gum up arteries. Unsaturated fats, which mostly come from plants and fish, are essential to good health.

But even the good fat/bad fat message is turning out to be more complicated than nutritionists once thought, as researchers explore the health effects of the many different kinds of fatty acids. With evidence emerging that healthy fats not only improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels but also reduce inflammation, fats are emerging as one of the hottest new functional foods.

Polyunsaturated vs. Monounsaturated: Choosing the Healthiest Oil

“We can now say unequivocally that unsaturated fats protect against heart disease,” says John Brunzell, MD, professor emeritus in the division of metabolism at the University of Washington, Seattle.

* In an analysis of data from 60 trials, researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands found that cutting back on carbohydrates and consuming more polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats decreases the level of harmful LDL cholesterol and increases protective HDL cholesterol.
* The more recent Optimal Macronutrient Intake Trial for Heart Health (OmniHeart) study showed that a diet rich in unsaturated fats also lowers blood pressure and reduces overall heart disease risk.

Debates have long raged about whether monounsaturates or polyunsaturates have the edge. The Maastricht University study found a slight advantage to polyunsaturated fats for improving the ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) to total cholesterol. But studies of people with diabetes, who have a high risk of heart disease, conducted at Trinity College in Dublin suggest that monounsaturated fats may offer more protection.

In the end, few of us keep count of grams of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat, of course. All edible oils are a blend of these two types of fat. Edible oils also contain at least some saturated fat. The amount of saturated fat in oil may be a more important consideration than the ratio of monos to polys.

* Olive oil, for instance, contains 73% monounsaturated fat, 11% polyunsaturated fat, and 14% saturated fat.
* Soybean oil, by contrast, is 24% mono, 61% poly, and 15% saturated fat.
* Canola oil wins high marks. It’s 62% monounaturated, 32% polyunsaturated, and only 6% saturated fat — by far the lowest among edible oils.

A 2007 study by researchers at the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign found that substituting canola oil for other vegetable oils and canola oil-based margarine for other spreads could significantly lower saturated fat levels in the American diet. What’s more, canola oil is also a good source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, which may be especially crucial to good health.

Of course, studies of the Mediterranean diet suggest that olive oil, which has a very different fatty acid profile, also offers potent protection against heart disease.

“In fact, there are many healthy unsaturated oils,” says Brunzell. “The issue isn’t choosing the healthiest, but encouraging people to use the ones they like.”

Omega-6 Versus Omega-3: Finding the Healthiest Balance

Polyunsaturated fats can be subdivided into omega-6, found in most plants, and omega-3 fatty acids, found predominantly in fish oils. Many researchers think the balance of these two fats may be the most critical measure of a healthy diet.

Currently, the modern diet is tipped heavily toward omega-6s, says Floyd Chilton, PhD, director of the Bontanical Lipids Center at Wake Forest University. “In the average western diet, the ratio is about 9:1 omega-6s to omega-3s. In some individuals we’ve studied, the ratio is as high as 40:1.”

No one knows what the optimum balance should be. According to Chilton, there’s good evidence that the diet of hunter-gatherers — and thus the diet our bodies evolved to eat — had a ratio of 2:1 omega-6s to omega-3s.

Restoring something close to that balance could help fight many of the chronic diseases that plague us, Chilton believes. “Omega-6s fatty acids regulate genes that spark inflammation. And inflammation is increasingly being seen as the central process in heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and other chronic health problems.”

Omega-3s, in contrast, tamp down inflammation and have been linked to many health benefits, including lowering triglyceride levels, guarding against dangerous irregular heart rhythms, and preventing plaque from breaking away from the lining of arteries. A 2006 review in The American Journal of Cardiology found that consuming omega-3s from fish, nuts, or soybean oil can lower cardiovascular risk by as much as 60%.
Contains Omega-3s: Can You Believe the Latest Health Claim?

The good news about omega-3s hasn’t been lost on food manufacturers. “Contains omega-3s” is the hottest new health claim on packages.

In 2000, omega-3 supplementation was a $100 million business, according to Chilton. By 2007, it had ballooned into a $3 billion business, which is expected to more than double by 2011.

Unfortunately, the omega-3s touted on the packages today are usually in the form of flaxseed oil, which is not as biologically available as omega-3s from fish oil. More and more manufacturers are beginning to switch to fish oil, according to Chilton, using a double encapsulation technology that prevents the flavor and smell from affecting food. The functional food industry is also working overtime to develop plant sources of omega-3s that are biologically active.

But not everyone’s sold on the idea that a healthy diet should be built on fortified foods and supplements. “There’s a long history of nutrients being taken out of food and put into pills, from vitamin E to beta carotene, and the results have not been encouraging,” says Brunzell. He thinks people should be encouraged to get their nutrients from foods that are known to be healthy — fish, nuts, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.

Cholesterol-Lowering Spreads: What You Should Know

One of the first fat-based functional foods to hit the market were spreads and margarines made with substances from plants called sterols and stanols, which have been shown to lower LDL. These substances are similar in size to the cholesterol molecule but they work by blocking the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines. Plant stanols or sterols occur naturally in foods such as fruits and vegetables, but not in high enough concentration to have an impact on cholesterol. So they are concentrated and added back to select foods.

The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends eating 2 grams of plant sterols or stanols a day if you have high cholesterol. But for people who do not have high cholesterol, both the NCEP and the American Heart Association do not recommend foods enriched with plant sterols. Instead, those people should get the plant sterols found naturally in vegetables and fruits.

“Most people can get the same benefits from using unsaturated oils and eating plenty of vegetables, which are the natural source of sterols and stanols,” says Brunzell.

By Peter Jaret
WebMD Feature

Tasty breakfast option for your weight loss plan

This feisty morning egg recipe is easy to make and puts a tasty spin on boring scrambled eggs. The original recipe has been converted to a healthier option by substituting egg whites for whole eggs.

Egg whites are extremely low in fat, contain no carbs and are high in protein. They are an excellent choice for your morning meal.

For convenience, egg whites can also be purchased pre-separated at your local grocery store or you can separate egg whites from whole eggs by simply removing the yolk. Egg yolks should only be consumed in moderation as each egg contains five grams of fat (if you’re eating four eggs that can really add up). Egg yolks are also high in cholesterol.

If you’re following a low-carb diet, this breakfast is a great choice for you – just make sure to cut out the tortilla shells as they could have as many as 30 grams of carbs. And besides, this recipe tastes great with or without the tortillas. So enjoy!

Prep Time

7 – 9 minutes

Servings

4

Nutrition Breakdown

153 calories
14g protein, 9g fat, 4g carbs

Type of Recipe

Low-fat breakfast

Difficulty Level

Easy

Ingredients

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped
1 small red pepper, diced
½ small onion, diced
5 egg whites + 1 whole egg
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. garlic
½ cup skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ cup salsa
4 tortilla shells (Optional, please note: nutritional breakdown doesn’t account for tortilla shells)

1. Preheat large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add olive oil and heat.
3. Add chicken and cook through until no longer pink.
4. Add red pepper and onion. Cook until softened.
5. In a medium bowl whisk together egg whites (use pre-separated or separate whites on your own), egg, salt, pepper, chili powder and garlic.
6. Pour egg mixture into skillet. Stir mixture together, for about 5 minutes, until completely scrambled. Add shredded cheese and stir until melted.
7. Remove skillet from burner and serve with salsa over tortilla shells (optional).