LOW-CARB LOWDOWN
HERE’S TO YOUR VERY GOOD HEALTH!
The easiest way to lose weight, cancer’s link to food choices and the benefits of chewing gum
Get healthy – fast!
If you don’t suffer from an eating disorder, fasting for various lengths of time offers a good route to increased energy and weight loss. Also, says nephrologist Dr Jason Fung, who heads up Toronto’s Intensive Dietary Management programme, it results in less loose skin than other forms of weight-loss: bonus!
Most diets concern themselves with what we eat, he says, when they should also be looking at when: ‘Here’s my best single tip for weight loss. It’s so simple and obvious that even a five-year-old could have come up with it: Don’t eat all the time!
‘Unfortunately, most nutritional authorities tell you the exact opposite. Eat six times a day. Eat lots of snacks. Eat before you go to bed. Eat, eat, eat — even to lose weight! It sounds pretty stupid, because it is pretty stupid. Instead, it may be better to use intermittent fasting, a dietary technique used successfully for countless generations. generations.’ *See our story on Intermittent Fasting in Lose It Volume 27
ARE FOOD CHOICES AND CANCER LINKED?
Inflammation is a primary cause of free radical production in the body. Once formed, these highly reactive radicals can start a chain reaction. They can cause damage should they react to important cellular components such as DNA, or the cell membrane. ‘Burning’ glucose for fuel releases some oxygen free radicals, but it doesn’t account for all. What else causes inflammation? Well, the modern Western diet for one, filled with processed foods rich in sugars as well as unhealthy and unnatural compounds. Many scientists acknowl- edge its highly inflammatory nature, but not many connected the dots between food-induced inflammation and cancer. The most inflammatory foods to avoid:
SUGARS are the number one culprit. Alternative sugars such as high fructose corn syrup are especially bad.
‘BAD’ FATS. Specifically, trans fats and polyunsaturated fats, commonly found in vegetable oils. REFINED GRAINS.
White flour bread, white pasta, most baked goods and desserts, breakfast cereals and snacks.
GOOD NEWS FOR CHEWING GUM LOVERS
A new study by Dr Yuka Hamada at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, found that chewing gum while walking could increase physical and physiological functions, particularly for middle-aged men. Some 46 men and women between the ages of 21 and 69 participated in two randomised trials. For both trials, tria the researchers measured resting heart rate, mean m heart rate during walking, distance covered and the rate at which they took steps. They found the average heart rate when walking was significantly higher in the gum trial than in the c control trial. While further research was needed, the researchers researche believed chewing gum could help in the synchronisation of the heart and locomotor rhythms. ■