Thursday, December 9, 2010

Health : Health Buzz: To Eat Less, Imagine Every Bite Beforehand

Health : Health Buzz: To Eat Less, Imagine Every Bite Beforehand

Health Buzz: To Eat Less, Imagine Every Bite Beforehand

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 02:55 PM PST

To Eat Less, Use Your Imagination

Picture yourself eating your favorite food, taking bite after bite of that gooey, fudge brownie. Ready to wolf it down? Well, according to a new study published in Science, doing such an exercise before devouring a given food may mean you actually eat less of it when you dig in, Science Now reports. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh split 51 hungry undergraduates into two groups. Half imagined eating 30 M&M's and inserting three quarters into a coin-operated laundry machine; the other half pictured eating three M&M's and inserting 30 quarters. Afterward, they were all presented with a bowl of the colorful candies and were welcomed to indulge as they wished. The students who had imagined eating lots more M&M's ate roughly three pieces on average, while the other group averaged five. Researchers found a similar pattern when they tempted the students with cheese cubes. The study, though small, may have implications for weight loss, say psychologists: Thinking about your meal before sitting down may prevent overeating and help to manage mid-day cravings.

These lesser-known tactics may also aid in weight loss, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz reported in March:

From: 6 Weight-Loss Tricks That Don't Involve Dieting or (Much) Exercise

1. Eat hot soup before a meal. Research suggests doing so before lunch or dinner helps people eat less. "That's probably because you can't eat hot soups fast, which gives your digestive tract time to send satiety signals out to your brain" before you begin the next course, says Adriane Fugh-Berman, a physician and associate professor of complementary and alternative medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center. She recommends eating a soup that is not cream based to save on fat and calories.

2. Don't eat heavily just before bed. Sure we've all heard the credo that body weight is all about calories in, calories out, but it turns out it may also matter when you eat. Fugh-Berman says she has seen preliminary research suggesting that taking in sweet, high-fat foods (ice cream, anyone?) right before bedtime appears to decrease calorie burning and increase fat storage during sleep. "Consuming that same snack earlier in the day doesn't appear to have the same effect," she says.

3. Live like a city dweller. People who live in cities weigh less than those who live in the suburbs probably because of "incidental walking," says Fugh-Berman. "Those few blocks that you walk to grab lunch or run an errand really do add up," she says. Plus, the daily activity is incorporated into your life so it doesn't feel like exercise. It's easy to do and not like a workout that you can skip or quit altogether. Don't live or work in a city? You can mimic the effect by parking a few blocks away from the drugstore, dry cleaner, or post office. Fugh-Berman says she has a slim friend whose only exercise is using the stairs instead of the elevator to get to his office on the ninth floor. Going up and down once or twice a day gives him a fairly good calorie burn.

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Your Doctor's Role in Helping You Change Your Health Habits

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 01:40 PM PST

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Want to Get in Shape? Take the Obama Challenge

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 12:34 PM PST

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Health Buzz: No Safe Level of Tobacco

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 08:35 AM PST

 One Cigarette Is One Too Many, Surgeon General Warns

 Think one whiff of tobacco smoke is harmless? That brief exposure is all it takes to cause immediate lung and DNA damage, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said Thursday in a new report on tobacco—the first of its kind in four years. While we don't need to run from the guy smoking next to us on the street, regular smokers do need to be aware that every cigarette they puff causes immediate health ramifications, the report emphasizes. Cigarette smoke attacks cells and inflames tissue in ways that can lead to serious illness and death, and it damages almost every organ in the body; in smokers with underlying heart disease, the report says, one cigarette can cause a heart attack. The report links cigarettes to 13 types of cancer, including esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, and bladder. And recent changes in design and ingredients have made the products increasingly addictive: Cigarettes now deliver nicotine more quickly and efficiently than they did in decades past. "Casual smokers think they are improving their health by cutting back, but there is no safe level," said Tim McAfee, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health, in an interview with CNN. He was one of more than 60 scientists to contribute to the 700-page report. "[Smoking] affects people's DNA immediately, and their heart and blood vessels literally seconds to minutes after being exposed."

 Smile to Improve Your Mood

 Research suggests smiling doesn't just spread sunshine; it strongly affects your mood. In February 2009, psychologists at the University of Cardiff in Wales found that people whose frown muscles were deadened by Botox were happier and less anxious than those who hadn't had the wrinkle treatment. Another study, appearing in the May 2008 issue of the Journal of Pain, revealed that people who grimace during uncomfortable procedures feel more pain than those who don't, Courtney Rubin writes for U.S. News.

 But a 2005 study by Hewlett Packard and the British Dental Health Foundation was perhaps the most intriguing. Researchers measuring brain and heart activity found that volunteers were as stimulated by imagining someone they loved smiling at them as they were by being told they'd won a cash prize. David Lewis, a psychologist and director of research at Mindlab International in Brighton, England, which conducted the study, says a warm smile can create a "halo" effect, helping us "feel more optimistic, more positive, and more motivated." [Read more: Smile to Improve Your Mood.]

 Even Kids on Sports Teams Don't Get Enough Exercise

 Only about 25 percent of children who play organized sports get the government-recommended 60 minutes of activity each day, according to new research in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The children studied were active for 45 minutes on average—which is not so bad—but the young athletes spent 30 minutes standing around or sitting during each practice.

 Since about 44 million kids take part in organized sports, that's a lot of children who aren't getting the workout they need, writes U.S. News contributor Nancy Shute. (That's especially true, since many schools have cut back PE, or eliminated it altogether.) Leagues and schools could improve the situation by emphasizing participation over competition, sponsoring teams for kids of all ages and skill levels, and holding more practices, according to the authors of the study, who are from San Diego State University and the University of California-San Diego. They also suggest coaches have the kids were pedometers or accelerometers during practice to gauge their activity level, as the researchers did in the study. [Read more: Even Kids on Sports Teams Don't Get Enough Exercise.]

 

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40 Million in U.S. Driving Drunk or Drugged

Posted: 09 Dec 2010 06:00 AM PST

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