It’s not the same for women.

Earlier research had examined coffee and tea drinking habits and obesity, but not much is known about what beverage we choose and how this contributes to the weight we carry around the belly.

This latest study involved 3,823 adults who were part of the 2003-04 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a program of studies created to assess the health and nutrition of adults and children in the U.S. The unique thing about this survey is that it combines interviews and physical exams.

The researchers found that coffee drinking wasn’t related to abdominal obesity in either men or women, even after adjusting for other risk factors. Using sugar instead of artificial sweeteners did appear to have a role in fat in this area.

In men, the use of sugar in tea was linked to a nearly 1 inch smaller waistline – the use of artificial sweeteners was associated to a nearly 2 inch larger waist measurement. In women, using milk in tea was linked to a 2/3-inch smaller waistline – but those who used artificial sweeteners had a 1-inch larger, on average, waist measurement.

“The potential association between coffee/tea and abdominal obesity is not trivial considering that more than 60% of the adult population drinks coffee/tea, that these beverages can be consumed as frequently as 10 times per day, and that a high percentage of coffee and tea drinkers use additives in these beverages,” explains D. R. Bouchard of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Fat at the waistline, beyond making you look and feel bad, has also been tied to more than a few serious health risks, conditions like heart disease and diabetes, as well as high blood pressure, sleep apnea, some cancers and degenerative diseases like arthritis and spondylosis.

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Tea Helps Trim Waistline Continued…

Known to your doctor as visceral fat, fat in this area has been shown to be more biologically active, bringing on inflammation and affecting the liver. Worse yet, large belly fat cells release more toxins and waste products that can get tucked in between internal organs, turning on the immune system.

The link between tea drinking and a slim waist calls for more study. In the meantime, men especially might benefit from replacing a cup (or two) of coffee with tea, or adding tea to your beverage intake and watching what happens to your waistline.

You might also want to up your intake of unprocessed, natural foods and make sure you’re getting regular exercise to make a more serious dent in any fat you’re carrying around the middle.

Remember too that in the end, it doesn’t matter where your fat is located – carrying more than you should is not good for your heart.

You should take steps to reduce the demands you’re placing on this very vital organ by giving your body good for you nutrients and also making healthier lifestyle choices.

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Add regular exercise to your plans to cut calories and you’ll find the combination of these two healthy habits leads to better results – not just in pounds dropped, but in lower blood pressure and better cholesterol numbers according to research set to appear in the January 2010 issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

The study involved assigning 36 overweight men and women (average age 39) to one of three different groups.

One group followed a diet plan that cut calories by 25%; the second group als cut calories, but by 12.5%, and exercised to the point where they were able to increase their energy output by 12.5%. The third group served as control subjects, sticking to a weight maintenance diet for the six months of the study.

The exercise prescription used varied depending on body weight at the start of the research. Typically the men walked briskly for 50 minutes, five days a week. Women worked out for 45 minutes, five days a week, but were able to choose the activity and intensity level of their exercise.

At the end of the six-month study, both the restricted calorie group and the calorie restriction plus exercise group lost almost 10% of their body weight.

The average weight of the subjects at the beginning of the research was almost 178 pounds, leaving participants with a loss of 17 pounds on average.

Beyond the pounds lost, those who included exercise in their program had better health outcomes. Blood pressure readings saw major improvements, even cholesterol numbers and insulin sensitivity got better.

“It’s better to lose weight with a combination of caloric reduction and exercise rather than caloric reduction alone,” said study author Dr. Enette Larson-Meyer, an assistant professor of family and consumer science at the University of Wyoming. Too many of us look to trendy, often expensive fad diets and exercise programs that don’t promote a true healthy lifestyle, but rather a “quick fix” approach to health.

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Cutting Calories Is Not Enough Continued…

To make the changes you need to live a healthy lifestyle, experts suggest you work with a professional wellness coach, especially when you’ve tried and had little success in the past.

These pros can help you decide on a restricted calorie-eating plan that still gives you enough of the nutrients your body needs, as well as allows for treats you enjoy.

Professionals are also incredibly helpful when it comes to designing a healthy, safe workout, especially for those who are obese, have chronic health problems, orthopedic problems or been inactive for a long while.

Of course making one change is hard enough, but two at the same time can be a real challenge.

Start by identifying what is really important to you (your long term health and quality of life, for example) and then take small, measurable steps toward that goal.

Slow and steady change, always working toward your overall healthy lifestyle goal, is the best way to have you feeling well, being well, today and in the future.

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It seems that fat that settles around your thighs and buttocks may be better for you than a spare tire around the middle according to experts from Oxford University. A new review of the data on body fat distribution actually suggests that fat in and around the backside might even offer some health benefit.

“It is the protective role of lower body, that is, gluteofemoral fat that is striking,” explains the team of British researchers in the January 12, 2009 online edition of the International Journal of Obesity. “The protective properties of the lower-body fat depot have been confirmed in many studies conducted in subjects with a wide range of age, BMI and co-morbidities.”

Of course the reason we have fat at all is so the body can store energy for use later on. Naturally this was more important when there wasn’t a fast food place or smoothie shop on every corner, when we weren’t sitting behind a desk, or on a couch most of the time, and when crops failed and food could be scarce.

The CDC uses the term obesogenic to describe an environment where increased food intake is promoted (notice U.S. portion sizes), unhealthy foods are everywhere and we are not physically active on a regular basis.

Healthy people who are carrying a little extra around the backside (usually women) also seem to have lower cholesterol, lower blood glucose levels and higher leptin (a hormone that regulates energy intake and expenditure) levels than those who put on the pounds around the middle.

Think of fat in the butt, hips and thighs as long-term energy storage for the body, which makes it a lot more sluggish in terms of metabolism than the fat around the tummy.

And while fat in the lower body (gluteofemoral is the medical term) isn’t as easy to put on as fat at the middle, it also doesn’t come off so easily either. The interesting tidbit for women is that fat in the buttocks does come off more readily when the demand for energy is really high, as it is when you breastfeed.

Fat in the caboose also seems to do some good for the body because it helps lower levels of immune system cells known as cytokines that promote inflammation – a key factor that’s been implicated in many health problems, heart disease in particular.

If you do have more of your fat at the middle as compared to fat in the lower body, it’s important for you to understand that you’re at a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes and other problems that come with obesity.

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Big Bottoms – Not So Bad After All Continued…

Experts are now finding that the waist-to-hip ratio is even more predictive of heart disease than the BMI (body mass index) by itself.

To get an idea of your own waist-to-hip number, you can use a measuring tape to measure around your hips at the widest part of your butt, and then measure your waist at the narrowest part, usually just above your belly button. Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement and you have the waist-to-hip ratio.

Generally a waist-to-hip ratio over 0.85 for women, or 1.0 for men will be considered risky. If this is you, talk to your doctor and take steps now to make things better.

And while the results of this review might have you feeling a bit better about a bigger backside, don’t expect any medical person to tell you that fat in and around the butt, hips and thighs is safe, though it does appear to be less harmful than fat at the waistline.

For now, your best bet, especially if you’re worried about your risk of heart disease, is to take steps to control your weight and lose any excess fat carried in any part of your body.

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Twins were used because they allow researchers to exclude genetic factors (as twins have identical genes) and more accurately judge the effect of lifestyle and environment on the skin.

The work involved collecting data on 65 pairs of twins (fraternal and identical) who were part of the 2002 Twin Days Festival in Twinsburg Ohio. The subjects were asked about their skin type, smoking and drinking habits, their weight and if they had any history of skin cancer.

Skin damage was similar in both identical and fraternal twins, but factors outside of genetics are linked with more skin damage.

The study authors found that long-term sun exposure brings both physical and structural changes to your skin that cause damage. Sun damaged skin has a more coarsely wrinkled surface, extra pigment or spots, lost pigment or dilated blood vessels instead of the fine wrinkles and skin growths you’d normally see in aging skin not damaged by the sun.

In fact, as much as 40% of aging-related changes to skin come from either the environment or lifestyle choices according to the researchers.

Environmental factors included a history of skin cancer, being overweight and smoking.

Drinking was found to bring less skin damage. While added weight usually makes you look older, it was also found to hide damage to the skin because the weight fills out the face.

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Sun, Smoke, Weight Add Years To Your Skin Continued…

One surprise from the research was the skin cancer rate – higher among twins than in the general population.

“This study, with an 8 percent skin cancer rate in twins, seems high when the general population has an incidence of less than 0.5 percent. This in of itself would merit further examination to look at other [potential risk] factors, such as prenatal x-rays, prenatal sonograms and low birth weights,” points out Dr. Jeffrey Salomon, who wasn’t involved in the study but is an assistant clinical professor of plastic surgery at Yale University School of Medicine.

To assess damage to your skin, stand in front of a mirror and hold up either arm so that the unexposed part is next to your face. If the skin of your arm is softer and smoother than the skin on your face, you have damaged skin.

While you can’t change what’s happened so far, there are things you can do now… today, that might just help keep your skin looking younger and fresher.

- Avoid the sun – it’s your skin’s mortal enemy, so be sure to use daily UV protection (in a moisturizer or sunscreen) as well as avoiding being in the sun during the peak hours of 10:00 am – 2:00 pm or wearing protective clothing if you must be outside.

- Stop smoking – as this causes your skin to age early, robbing it of oxygen and nutrients, as well as causing the breakdown of your natural stores of collagen and elastin.

- Drink plenty of water – as this hydrates your skin from the inside out. Eight to ten glasses per day, which sounds like a lot, is good for your skin.

- Exercise – regular activity gives you skin plenty of oxygen so it stays healthy, as well as being a great way to keep your body fit and your weight under control.

- Exfoliate – to remove dead skin cells from the surface of your skin. Exfoliated skin is better able to absorb and benefit from the creams or moisturizers you’re using.

- Daily moisturizing – in the morning and night helps your skin hold on to its elasticity. You might try vitamin C creams for winkle control and fading of brown spots, products with alpha hydroxy acids to keep your skin younger looking.

The work appears in the December 2009 issue of the Archives of Dermatology.

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But a new study by researchers out of the University of Texas at Austin looked for ways to help us to resist temptation and suggests the key to doing so is to exaggerate the threat.

So if you’re on a diet, focus on the threat of that cookie or piece of delicious chocolate to your weight loss goals. Exaggerating the negative may in fact help you resist just about any temptation.

For this study, researchers focused on two self-regulatory areas – dieting and academic goals.

“Four experiments show that when consumers encounter temptations that conflict with their long-term goals, one self-control mechanism is to exaggerate the negativity of the temptation as a way to resist, a process we call counteractive construal,” the study authors point out.

For one of the experiments, female participants were asked to estimate the calorie count of a cookie, half being offered the cookie as a complimentary gift for their participation, the other half were not offered any reward.

Those with a strong dieting goal saw the delectable treat as having more calories than it actually did… and being more threatening to their long term weight loss goals.

Another test found that environmental factors, in this case posters of fit models (vs. those with nature scenes) helped women stay focused on their diet goals. They too were more likely to exaggerate the calories in a tempting drink that they planned to enjoy later, and drank less when offered the drink.

When self-control conflicts arise, another of the experiments looked at the so-called counteractive construal to see if it would be helpful. This experiment involved 93 college students, finding that those with higher grade point averages were more likely to overestimate the length of time an upcoming party would last (taking time away from studying), and were less likely plan on attending the event when reminded of their academic goals.

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Resist Temptation: Exaggerate The Threat Continued…

So, tricking yourself into seeing that tasty treat (or another indulgence) as a bigger threat to your weight loss goals than it actually is could be a smart strategy to help you resist temptation. Or at the very least, limit how much you indulge.

Besides exaggerating the down side of what tempts you… here are a few more suggestions to help you resist temptation.

- Remember the Law of Attraction (also known as The Secret) where what you think about comes to be. Shift your focus from what you’re trying to resist, to what you want to do.

- Focus on good behaviors like the taste of fresh fruits and veggies, or the sense of accomplishment you’ll have after that workout.

- Reward yourself with healthy, fun treats… going to the beach or watching a favorite program… to celebrate your success.

- Plan ahead to resist temptation, especially in situations where you know you’ll be especially tempted. Give yourself something else to do (or eat) instead of indulging in something less healthy.

- Don’t beat yourself up for not succeeding all the time. Be accepting and compassionate, and keep at it.

These findings are set to appear in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.

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Yet visceral fat (fat around the organs) is a stronger predictor of early death than any other number… either BMI or the one that shows up on the scale.

A survey of 12,000 adults in Europe reported by GlaxoSmithKline (makers of widely advertised weight loss drug Alli) shows that 9 out of 10 had no idea that having a thick waist was a signal of the buildup of dangerous visceral fat around the internal organs.

This type of fat, fat you can’t see or feel, has been identified as a risk for health problems like type 2 diabetes or heart disease. Waist sizes over 31.5 inches (80 cm) for women, 37 inches (94 cm) for both white and black men, and 35 inches (90 cm) for South Asian men are believed to be the most troublesome.

“Most overweight people still see themselves as having a body image issue not a health problem and they need to understand the health benefits of weight loss as well as the cosmetic results,” says report author Dr. Terry Maguire, an honorary senior lecturer at Queen’s University in Belfast.

Nearly two thirds (64%) of the survey respondents said that they were planning to begin a diet in the New Year.

However, 86% of those surveyed admitted to dieting resolutions that had been unsuccessful in the past. Once those surveyed learned about the dangers of this fat around the waist, 79% claimed to be more motivated to lose weight.

Earlier research has found that a larger waistline is a reliable clinical indication of visceral fat, and fat in this area ups your risk of diseases that are linked to being overweight.

Visceral fat is so dangerous because its related to the release of proteins and hormones that bring on inflammation which can damage your arteries (upping the risk of thrombosis and stroke), and release fatty acids that enter the liver, your metabolic powerhouse, affecting how the body breaks down sugars and fats.

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Danger Of Larger Waistlines Continued…

What’s more, very large belly fat cells release more toxins/waste products that end up tucked in between the internal organs, sounding the alert to the immune system, creating even more trouble.

When it comes to losing the weight, report co-author Professor David Haslam, chair of the UK’s National Obesity Forum, suggests that steady, sustained weight loss – a 5% to 10% decrease in body weight – is the way to go.

Fad diet plans, no matter how good the spokespeople look, or how easy the plan sounds, are just not going to bring results over the long term. According to Haslam, “Fad diets, which usually promise quick fix weight loss, are unsustainable. They can actually do more harm than good,” he explains, “Invariably weight is put back on, with some of the weight regained accumulating as visceral fat.”

Experts agree that the dangers of visceral fat may take a long time to get into the public consciousness, and the survey results are not all that surprising.

The most recent numbers have about two-thirds of men, and more than half of all women in the U.K. being overweight. Not to be outdone, U.S. rates are among the highest in the world at 64% of adults classified as either overweight or obese. Estimates have 75% of U.S. adults being overweight and a full 41% falling into the obese category by 2015 – in just five years.

The good news? When you lose the weight, the report found that visceral fat is more easily converted to energy than fat just under the skin. Even a small weight loss can bring a big difference in how you look and feel, but also to your overall health.

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Until this work, there hadn’t been a systematic review of just how strong the evidence of dietary factors in heart disease might be.

Heart disease, as the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S. (and around the world), gets lots of attention.

This disease kills more people than all forms of cancer combined. As dire as this sounds, there are many forms of heart disease that can be treated (even prevented) by making healthy lifestyle choices that include a “heart healthy” diet and exercise. There are things you can do now, today, to help yourself.

Stop smoking, lower your cholesterol and keep high blood pressure under control.

To conduct their review on diet and heart disease, the team performed a systematic search for prospective studies conducted between 1950 and June 2007. The search included nearly 200 different studies (146 prospective cohort studies, 43 randomized controlled trials).

Cohort studies look back at the habits of a particular group of people, while randomized controlled trials assign participants randomly to a dietary intervention or a control group. The results of all these studies were then pooled and a predefined algorithm was used to rate the evidence behind a heart healthy claim.

The end result? Only three specific dietary factors had strong evidence of being heart disease fighters. Diets rich in veggies, nuts (loaded with monounsaturated fatty acids) and those that were closest to following a Mediterranean-style diet with lots of fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts, whole grains, cheese or yogurt and fish have the strongest evidence of lowering your risk of heart disease.

Only a Mediterranean-style diet has been found, in randomized, controlled trials, to cut the risk of heart disease. So if you’re considering making a change in what you eat to reduce your heart disease risk, this is the plan backed by the most hard evidence as having some benefit.

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Not All Diets Are Good For The Heart Continued…

Of course the typical Western style diet comes with foods high in trans fatty acids as well as processed meats, red meat, butter, refined grains and high fat dairy products that are known to have a negative impact on heart disease risk.

Those foods with a high glycemic index such as simple or refined carbs (white bread, pasta and rice) are also trouble as they cause blood sugar levels to spike and have been found to raise the risk of heart disease.

Other dietary factors such as omega-3 fatty acids in fish, as well as whole grains, alcohol, vitamins E and C, beta-carotene, folate, fruit and fiber were found to have moderate evidence in support of their heart healthy claims. More research in this area is needed.

“Although investigations of dietary components may help to shed light on mechanisms behind the benefits of dietary patterns, it is unlikely that modifying the intake of a few nutrients or foods would substantially influence coronary outcomes,” the researchers conclude. “Our findings support the strategy of investigating dietary patterns in cohort studies and randomized controlled trials for common and complex chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease.”

In other words, you’ll need to make whole scale changes in what you eat if you’re concerned about heart disease risk, and be sure to watch for further research.

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Best of all, it’s no weight loss gimmick; it’s a way to eat that you can stick with every day, holidays included.

What is this weight loss wonder? Energy density – the theory behind The Mayo Clinic Diet.

Poorly named but very well researched and respected – this plan isn’t a “diet” in the traditional sense; but rather a way of eating that’s intended to help you maintain a healthy weight for life.

We know that all foods give you an amount of calories per serving. Things like candy, desserts and the vast majority of processed foods are high in energy density.

Eat a small amount of these tasty choices and you take in a huge number of calories – Just check the labels and the portion sizes to see this for yourself.

On the other hand, food that come from nature generally, like fruits and veggies, has low energy density so you can eat a whole lot of these options but take in fewer calories.

What accounts for the difference in the energy density of foods?

- Water – many fruits and veggies are loaded with water, adding plenty of volume but zero calories. For example, grapefruit at almost 90% water has 36 calories; carrots are about 88% water and have 52 calories per cup.

- Fiber – veggies, fruits and whole grains are also full of fiber which provides volume and takes longer to digest, helping you to feel fuller for a longer time.

- Fat – fruits and veggies don’t have a lot of fat, whereas a single teaspoon of butter has almost the same number of calories as two whole cups of broccoli.

When you eat more foods that are satisfying, but less calorie dense, you put a stop to those nagging pangs of hunger between meals – The ones that tempt you to stray from your healthy eating plan.

Of course change, even when it’s for the better, is never easy, but it doesn’t have to be horrible either. Here are some easy ways to get more good, low energy density foods into your diet.

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Feel Full On Fewer Calories Continued…

Try to…

- Increase the ratio of fruits and veggies in the meals you eat now. Add blueberries to cereal in the morning, or top pasta with sautéed veggies in the tomato sauce you love. Your aim is to lower the amount of meat on your plate and add more veggies instead.

- Try new foods or combinations. Mango or peach slices on whole-wheat toast with a bit of peanut butter is a breakfast option that’s delicious and good for you too. You might try adding mandarin orange slices to a lunchtime salad. The idea is to experiment and you’ll find tastes you never knew you’d love!

- Start with soup or salad. Begin your lunch (or dinner) with a broth based; veggie filled soup or a large salad (with low-fat or fat-free dressing on the side) is a great way to fill up on good stuff before the main meal. When it comes to the main event, include whole grains, extra portions of veggies and a small serving of lean protein.

So what foods to choose?

- Vegetables: low calorie, high volume options include salad greens, asparagus, green beans, broccoli and zucchini.

- Fruits: some choices are better than others, you want whole fresh, frozen or canned fruits that don’t have any added sugar. Fruit juices aren’t so good, nor are dried fruits, as both are concentrated sources of natural sugars and would have a higher calorie content per serving.

- Carbs: here whole grains are best because they naturally have more fiber (plus other key nutrients), choose whole wheat bread and pasta, oatmeal, brown rice and any whole grain cereal.

- Protein and Dairy: can come from both plant and animal sources, with the best choices being those that are high in protein and low in fat and calories – legumes (beans, peas and lentils), fish, skinless white meal poultry, fat free dairy and egg whites.

Eating healthy is not about depriving yourself forever – that’s unrealistic, and why most “diets” fail. You’ll still be able to enjoy a special treat now and again, like a slice of cake, an order of fries or bowl of ice cream.

The fact that you’re eating more good-for-you foods leaves room for the occasional indulgence. What’s more, because you’ll be eating more low energy dense foods you won’t be feeling so starved and deprived, it’ll be easier to be satisfied with a single serving of a calorie-rich food.

Remember, a change to healthy eating doesn’t have to be hard or high maintenance, it really comes down to choosing foods with care and attention for all your meals, so you’re always giving your body the fuel it needs to stay healthy.

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Shifts in the microbial environment of the digestive tract, or bacteria in the gut, are worthy of more attention according to Washington University researchers, perhaps providing clues to overall health as well as treatments for obesity and ways to fight malnutrition. Until now, this area has been largely unexplored.

“Although how much you eat and how much you exercise are dominant drivers of your energy balance, it’s possible that microbial communities and how they work also comprise a factor that determines your risk for obesity or risk for malnutrition,” explains senior study author and genome scientist Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon, director of the Center for Genome Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine.

Think about this. There are ten times more microbes in adult human bodies than there are human cells – meaning in numbers, we’re 90% microbe, 10% human. For every one human cell, there are ten microbes.

From a very early age, our bodies are home to a large and ever changing community of microorganisms, most of them live in our intestines.

No one knows how many species of microbes exist in the human digestive tract – the last count was stopped at 395 different species from just three healthy subjects.

Bacteria that reside in the digestive tract are there to help you digest and absorb nutrients, as well as play a role in your immune function and act as a barrier to infection.

The digestive system is a highly complex environment, affected by genetic and cultural factors that also affect digestion and obesity.

To find a better way to study these microbes, Gordon and his team created a well defined, representative animal model, a mouse genetically altered to have no gut microbes of its own; into which the team transplanted fresh or frozen adult human fecal microbes.

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Is Gut Bacteria Making Us Fat? Continued…

When the “humanized” mice were switched from a low fat to a junk food diet (high in fat with plenty of simple sugars) the structure of the microbial community changed quite a bit, and quickly too.

Within 24 hours not only did the species of bacteria change, but the proportions of species changed too. Of course the mice became obese on their mock Western diet.

What’s more surprising is that, transplanting the microbes to another set of microbe-free mice caused them to put on weight, even though these guys were on a low fat feeding plan.

The microbes also appear to pass between generations, so a mother could give her set of microbes to her child.

Gordon and his team suggest that it may be some of us have digestive microbes that are more efficient at getting energy from food than those of others.

So that 110 calories cup of Cheerios offers you the full amount of energy, while another person might get less – depending on the microbes in their own digestive tract. So, bacteria in your gut may explain why some of us gain weight eating a certain way, while others remain pin thin on the same eating plan.

The experts hope that perhaps one day medications might be made up of microbes, or drugs that target some sets of them, to change how they are working in your digestive tract.

This could have implications not only for obesity, but for the opposite end of the spectrum, fighting malnutrition. Naturally there’s still a lot of work to get there.

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Science is fascinated by overeating, due in part to its link to evolution. Once food was hard to come by, now nourishment is readily available, and this abundance is killing us through soaring rates of diabetes and heart disease, not to mention the risks to our health of obesity and overweight.

Researchers are constantly looking for ways to help us avoid that extra weight, or at least explain why we can’t seem to be rid of it.

In this latest study, a diet-cycled group of 155 rats were fed a regular diet for five days before being switched to a chocolate flavored food high in sugar for two days.

To no one’s surprise, this group of rats didn’t want to go back to their regular food after eating what was intended to be rat junk food, and refused it, exhibiting signs of anxiety.

Sound familiar? When the rats were allowed to go back to the junk food, they overate, though their anxiety related behaviors returned to normal.

In fact, the rat brains acted as would be seen during withdrawal from drugs or alcohol.

Of course rat brains are not the same as human brains, and our neurology might work altogether differently, but the researchers, including study author Pietro Cottone, contend that the findings suggest a link between so called yo-yo dieting and cycles of addiction and withdrawal.

He and his team believe that obesity and eating disorders should be seen as chronic conditions, involving periods of abstinence (where sugar and fatty foods are “forbidden”) and relapses that involve compulsive, often out of control eating of high calorie goodies.

If you’re recognizing yourself, you’re not alone. Breathe, and read on…

Weight cycling, also known as yo-yo dieting, can be small (5-10 pounds) or large (50 pounds or more) and has been linked with some serious health risks.

Yo-yo dieting “a common habit of many chronic dieters, generates dependence,” explains Cottone, an assistant professor Boston University School of Medicine. When someone who’s used to overeating suddenly stops, stress hormones in the brain become active.

This leads to “anxiety, decreased motivation and rejection of other food alternatives.” In other words, you get nervous, lose your motivation for the diet and reject any healthy alternative you encounter… the diet fails and you return to your old patterns of eating.

What’s worse, each attempt to stay away from junk foods is going to be more painful and stressful than the earlier one, which makes the likelihood of relapse higher each time.

There is a ray of hope in all this. The team found that they helped the rats do better by inhibiting a system in the brain that adds to stress.

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Yo-Yo Dieting And Addiction Link Continued…

No one can say that any treatment for human obesity is around the corner, but the findings are interesting.

And they offer hope for those who struggle with added weight and how to lose it… the endless cycle of losing and regaining… by promoting the idea that blaming yourself isn’t the answer.

It’s not a lack of willpower, but more likely a condition similar to drug addition that could be making your efforts so difficult and fruitless.

Finding help, and ready support, is your best hope of getting off the yo-yo diet bandwagon and taking control of your health.

To avoid the risks of this type of weight loss and gain, you’ll need to adopt healthier eating habits every day, and make it a point to engage in regular exercise so that you can reach and maintain a healthy weight… and say good-riddance to the endless gain-lose-gain back dieting cycle.

These findings were reported online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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