Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

The key to losing weight sounds simple — eat less. Regardless of the diet you follow, dropping the pounds means burning more calories than you eat. That begs the question, how many calories should I eat to lose weight? According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, for most people, cutting about 500 calories a day is a good place to start. If you can eat 500 fewer calories every day, you should lose about a pound a week. Another easy way to figure out how many calories you should eat is to multiply your weight by 15, Harvard Health advises. That number will give you the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight. To lose weight, simply cut that number. But counting calories isn’t enough, says Samantha Heller, a nutritionist at NYU Langone Health in New York City. “Everyone wants a quick fix, but weight loss is not an overnight proposition. We do not gain weight nor will we lose weight quickly,” she said. “If you want to lose 10 pounds, one important tool is keeping a food diary,” Heller said. Keep track of everything you eat for five to seven days. Then review your food record. See where you can cut back on sweets, snacks, large portions and alcohol. Let those discoveries help you make a plan for losing weight.… read on > read on >

Not all prescription drugs and dietary herbal supplements work well together. It’s important to be aware of possible drug/supplement interactions that could be harmful, according to the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), a part of the National Institutes of Health. The organization offered tips on six potential issues. The supplement St. John’s wort interacts with many types of drugs, according to the NCCIH. Most often, it speeds up the processes that would change the drug into an inactive substance, meaning a person taking a certain medication would have less of that drug in the body. It can also interact with certain types of antidepressants, causing harmful side effects. Concentrated garlic extracts can thin the blood. That’s similar to what aspirin does. It can be a problem during or after surgery. Another type of supplement, concentrated green tea, can interact with the decongestant pseudoephedrine. The herb goldenseal has a high herb-drug interaction risk with some medicines, according to recent research. Some medications have what’s known as a narrow therapeutic index, meaning that if the drug amount is too low or too high, it can be problematic. Some drugs with a narrow therapeutic index include digoxin, cyclosporine and warfarin. Patients taking herbal supplements such as Asian ginseng or St. John’s wort, along with a medicine with a narrow therapeutic index, should be closely… read on > read on >

Meditation might help a person’s gut health — but it takes a lot of meditation over a long time. Tibetan Buddhist monks appear to have gut microbes that differ substantially from others living near them, a new study reports. Those differences have previously been linked to a lower risk of anxiety, depression and heart disease, according to the study authors. The findings suggest that regular deep meditation practiced for a number of years appears to regulate the gut microbiome and improve health, the researchers said. The report was published online Jan. 16 in the journal General Psychiatry. Meditation is more frequently being used to help treat mental health problems like depression, anxiety, substance abuse, traumatic stress and eating disorders. It can also help a person deal with chronic pain. To see whether meditation has a deeper effect on human health, the investigators analyzed stool and blood samples from 37 Buddhist monks from three Tibetan temples, as well as 19 people living nearby. These monks use a form of meditation derived from the ancient Indian medical system known as Ayurveda. They have been practicing this meditation at least two hours a day for between three and 30 years, the researchers noted. Stool sample analysis revealed that the monks’ guts were significantly enriched with a number of bacterial strains. “Collectively, several bacteria enriched in the meditation group… read on > read on >

It’s no secret: The standard American diet is at the root of the obesity epidemic and many of its associated diseases. But why is American food so unhealthy? It’s not just that Americans eat too much, which they do, but it’s also what they eat that’s unhealthy: fat, sugar, salt and ultra-processed foods. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the average American diet consists of excess salt, saturated fat, refined grains, calories from solid fats and added sugars. Americans also eat fewer vegetables, fruits, whole grains, dairy products and oils than recommended. Nearly 42% of American adults are obese, statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. One reason may be that healthy foods are often more expensive than packaged foods. Packaged foods tend to have higher amounts of salt, refined grains, sugar and unhealthy oils not recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The CDC notes that high blood pressure and high cholesterol caused by consuming too much salt are the leading causes of heart disease and stroke. Current guidelines recommend getting less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of salt a day, but most Americans consume more than 3,400 mg a day, on average. The culprit? More than 70% of the salt that Americans eat comes from packaged, processed, store-bought and restaurant foods, the CDC says. “Ultra-processed foods are designed to… read on > read on >

Water weight. It’s the bane of dieters looking to lose pounds, causing bloating, puffiness and disappointment when stepping on a scale. While a full 60% of your body is water, sometimes too much water is retained. That can make losing weight frustrating because it may seem like you aren’t actually losing weight. Varying water levels can make a person’s weight fluctuate by 2 to 4 pounds in just one day. The amount of water your body contains is a function of your body’s composition, sex and age, but eating can cause you to retain a few extra pounds of water. This extra water is fluid the kidneys would normally purge from the body. “Most of our weight is water,” said Dr. Gabe Neal, a family medicine physician and clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M College of Medicine. “It’s the heaviest thing in our body besides our bones, and it is one of the first to go when you start losing weight.” So the question is, how do you lose water weight? The MIDSS (Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Sciences) has some advice. Why do you retain water? There are lots of reasons, including too much salt or carbs, menstrual hormones and dehydration. “Water, when used efficiently, goes all over our bodies,” Neal said recently. “We want it to go to our arteries, veins,… read on > read on >

FRIDAY, Jan. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Despite tobacco industry claims, a new study found that banning menthol-flavored cigarettes did not lead to more people purchasing illicit smokes. Researchers at the University of Waterloo surveyed smokers to study the impact of a menthol cigarette ban in Canada. Smokers of both menthol and non-menthol cigarettes were surveyed before and after Canada’s ban, and asked about their usual cigarette brand and the last one they bought. Smokers who were still smoking after the menthol ban were also asked where they last purchased cigarettes. After the ban, researchers found no change in purchasing cigarettes from First Nations reserves, the main source of illicit cigarettes in Canada. “The tobacco industry has a long history of claiming that policies to reduce smoking will lead to substantial increases in illicit trade,” said lead study author Janet Chung-Hall, a research scientist for the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Policy Evaluation Project at Waterloo. “We can add the Canadian menthol ban to the long list of effective policies, such as graphic warnings and plain packaging, whose evaluation disproved the scare tactics by industry — showing that illicit trade did not, in fact, increase,” Chung-Hall said in a university news release. A 2022 study that combined ITC Project data and a comparable evaluation study in Ontario found increased smoking cessation among menthol smokers compared to… read on > read on >

Look at a bodybuilder who has bulked up with bulging muscles, and it might not seem that lifting weights can shed pounds. But first impressions can be deceiving. Instead, experts say, building muscle can indeed be one way to transform your body and lose weight. “Weightlifting activates your large muscle groups and, when done appropriately, can burn more calories than steady state cardio,” said Dr. Russell Camhi, who works in primary care sports medicine for Northwell Health’s Orthopaedic Institute in Smithtown, N.Y. Still, weightlifting on its own is not the key to weight loss. At least 80% of weight loss is through nutrition, Camhi said. “No matter what exercise program you choose you will not lose weight if you are not monitoring your intake and properly fueling your body,” Camhi said. A person lifting weights to gain muscle mass should eat a high-protein diet, Camhi said. The goal should be 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. People who are already fit and trying to gain muscle may not lose weight, but someone who is overweight or obese will, Camhi said. “Once you lose a good portion of fat and become more fit then, yes, the weight loss will plateau but will be replaced with muscle growth and increased fitness,” Camhi said. “At that point, be less concerned about the number on the… read on > read on >

So, after a month of holiday eating, your pants are too tight and you’re desperate to lose the extra weight as quickly as possible, but how much can you lose in a month? Experts say there is no speedy way to shed pounds. How long does it take to lose weight? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who succeed do it gradually at about 1 to 2 pounds per week, which translates into 4 to 8 pounds a month. Because safely losing weight is such a gradual process, it can take six months or more to lose 30 pounds. But it’s well worth it as you change your lifestyle and look and feel better, experts say. Losing weight permanently is really a matter of changing your lifestyle and diet. The best way is to set safe, achievable goals that you can meet. That all starts with understanding that fad diets or highly restrictive eating plans may prompt fast weight loss, but not permanent weight loss. “Fad diets, by today’s standards, do not work. By work, I mean a sustainable lifestyle that promotes a healthy weight and meets the nutrient needs of the individual,” said Samantha Heller, a nutritionist at NYU Langone Health in New York City. “We need to buckle down and face the fact that a constant diet of… read on > read on >

Infants too young to be vaccinated for COVID-19 get some protection from their mothers’ breast milk, researchers say. The new study follows up on findings published in 2021 that showed the breast milk of vaccinated people contained antibodies against the COVID-19 virus. For the study, researchers analyzed infants’ stool. “Our first study showed there were SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the breast milk, but we couldn’t say if those antibodies were getting through the babies’ gastrointestinal tract and possibly providing protection there,” said senior study author Joseph Larkin III. He is an associate professor in the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, in Gainesville. Larkin and his team used a technique known as a neutralization assay to show that the antibodies found in the infants’ stool offered protection against the virus. “The antibodies run interference and don’t let the virus get to the cells,” Larkin said in a university news release. Even though people think of COVID-19 as a respiratory virus, it can invade the gut. Finding antibodies there is significant, the researchers said. “The antibodies ingested through breast milk may provide a protective coating in the infants’ mouths and gastrointestinal tract,” said first author Dr. Vivian Valcarce Luaces, a postdoctoral fellowship trainee in neonatology. Antibodies found in the blood plasma and milk of the mothers were better able to neutralize the virus, though they… read on > read on >

The updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters intended to defend people against emerging Omicron variants don’t appear to provide any better protection than the original shot does, two new studies find. The new mRNA bivalent boosters produced by Moderna and Pfizer only attack the COVID-19 virus about as well as the companies’ first-wave vaccines, according to a blood testing study led by renowned virologist Dr. David Ho, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University, in New York City. The bivalent shots also failed to promote higher antibody levels or a better immune response than the original COVID-19 vaccines, according to another study led by Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston. Both studies were published online Jan. 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Together, the two studies “suggest that with this rapidly evolving virus, vaccines developed for different strains are not going to add a huge difference in terms of protection,” said Dr. Greg Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group. It appears that human immune systems “imprint” after exposure to the first mRNA COVID vaccines, experts say. They are primed to respond to aspects of the original COVID-19 strain that are shared by all the variants, rather than the novel mutations sported by newer variants. “It may… read on > read on >