Correlation vs. Causation

Posted by Brian - 10/09/08 at 12:10:44 pm

I’ve been slacking on my posting for about a month now due to some personal issues, but am hoping to work my way back into a regular routine and am going to start it with a simple, but nonetheless important note regarding the numerous research studies that people (myself included) throw around to support why we should or should not eat Food A or do Exercise B.  And that note is that correlation is not…repeat…is not the same as causation.

To start this discussion, we need to recognize that we’re all biased.  I’m biased.  You’re biased.  Yes, some people have a more open mind than others, but for someone to say that they are completely unbiased is ludicrous.  And it’s because of this bias that we have a tendency to blindly accept studies that reinforce what we already believe, and immediately dismiss or pick apart the ones that don’t.  So, when we hear of a study(1) that, for instance, finds a correlation between exercise (in this case running) and longevity, we immediately accept that as Gospel.  Why?  Because that’s what we already believe to be true in our minds.  Of course people who exercise live longer, better lives, right?!?

The conclusion that the authors of this particular study draw is that “Vigorous exercise (running) at middle and older ages is associated with reduced disability in later life and a notable survival advantage.”  There’s nothing wrong with that statement - in fact, it’s 100% accurate - but it’s important to note that the authors said they found an “association” (correlation), not proof (causation).  Reread their conclusion.  Nowhere are they claiming they proved a link between exercise and longevity, but today’s mainstream media doesn’t make mention of that distinction when studies like this are blasted across the television, radio, and the internet.  Saying something could, maybe, possibly, perhaps, we think help or hurt you doesn’t have the same impact as, “Want to avoid death?  We’ll tell you how…tonight at 11:00″.

Now, let’s look at another example of correlation.  Below is a famous, far-fetched example used in a letter to the Kansas School Board in January 2005 (2).

There is obviously a correlation between the two sets of data in that, as the number of pirates has decreased over the centuries, the global average temperature has increased.  But I don’t think that anyone would believe that the decreasing number of pirates in the world has actually caused the increase in the global average temperature or that the increase in the temperature has caused a reduction in the number of pirates.  Yet because a scientist or statistician somewhere in the world found a similar correlation between exercise and longevity we immediately think, “Ah-ha!  Finally! Proof!”

The interesting thing about science is that we tend to define it as creating a hypothesis and then proving or disproving that hypothesis.  In reality, hypotheses aren’t really proven.  Experiments either support the data, or disprove the data.  After enough support, we accept the hypothesis as fact, even though we have never proven it to be true.  We just can’t find anything that disproves it (if you’re interested enough - and geeky enough - check out the graph of the results of the COBE Mission as this is probably the most amazing example of an experiment agreeing with a theory (3)).

So, as we look at the two sets of correlating data presented in this post, the first (that exercise is linked to longevity) is one that we’ll still walk away believing because we “know” that to be true, while the second (involving temperatures and pirates) we will continue to “know” is false even though neither study…proved…anything.

Citations:

(1) - Archives of Internal Medicine: Reduced Disability and Mortality Among Aging Runners

(2) - Wikipedia: Flying Spaghetti Monster

(3) - Wikipedia: COBE Mission

Avoid this and avoid packing on the pounds.

Posted by SonOfKrypton - 09/25/08 at 12:09:32 pm

Recent research from the UT Southwestern Medical Center and appearing in the Journal of Nutrition illustrates the stunning rate we pack on body fat following fructose intake.  In the study, six healthy, fit individuals went through three tests where they each consumed a fruit mix drink.

In the first of three tests, the breakfast drink was produced with sugars that were 100 percent glucose, like the tests doctors give to patients to test for diabetes.  In the second test, the drink was produced with sugars that were half glucose and half fructose, and in the third, subjects consumed drinks with 25 percent glucose and 75 percent fructose.  All tests were performed randomly and blinded, and the subjects were allowed to eat a regular lunch about four hours later.

The researchers discovered that following replacement of as little as half of glucose with fructose, a dramatic rise in lipogenesis, the process by which your body converts sugars into body fat, could be observed.  

Dr. Elizabeth Parks, lead author of the study, remarks that her teams finding are important because they state that the kind of carbohydrates you consume can be just as important with regards to weight control as how many calories you consume.  She goes on to state, “This is an underestimate of the effect of fructose because these individuals consumed the drinks while fasting and because the subjects were healthy, lean and could presumably process the fructose pretty quickly. Fat synthesis from sugars may be worse in people who are overweight or obese because this process may be already revved up.”

Fructose eaten in breakfast meals also changed how our body deals with what we eat at lunch.  After fructose consumption, the liver increased the storage and production of fats from lunch meals.

For the Love of All That is Yolky

Posted by Brian - 09/04/08 at 09:09:18 am

A recent Gyminee post by SonOfKrypton regarding eggs got me thinking of this, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a point about the nutritional value of an egg and the oh-so-wonderful goodness that many people are missing out on.  What goodness am I referring to?  Why, the yolk, of course!

Show of hands.  How many people out there eat egg whites, but throw the yolk away?

Go ahead…it’s okay…raise your hand…I know you’re out there…I saw your comments on SonOfKrypton’s post.

Let’s take a look at the incredible, (completely) eatable, egg.

Fat, calories, and protein

First, let’s take the 45,000 foot view of the two basic things the human body needs to function: water and an energy source (and we need the former more often than the latter).  So, what’s the energy source for the human body?  Food!  Broken down into fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, we tend to think of these in terms of grams, but to the body it is nothing more than pure, raw, energy used to sustain every aspect of our body.

So, by using the Gyminee food search functionality, and limiting our results to USDA nutritional data only, let’s compare whole eggs vs. egg whites.  Since carbohydrates are not only less important than fats and proteins but, in this case, represent a minuscule difference of only one gram between the two, we’ll focus on the other two energy sources.

On the left, you’ll see a whole, large egg, with its 7 grams of fat, and 7 grams of protein.  On the right, the egg white lags behind with its embarrassing 0 grams of fat, and only 4 grams of protein.  The proof is in the numbers.

Some of you may pick up on the higher level of cholesterol present in the egg yolk, but don’t let that dissuade you.  A recent study in the Advanced Online Publication area of the International Journal of Obesity (1) comparing four groups of overweight individuals shows, among other things, that adding a couple of (whole) eggs per day to your diet in no way affects your level of cholesterol.  Dr. Michael Eades gives a great summary of the study here.

Diving head first into an explanation of my position on cholesterol would take us away from the subject at hand.  Suffice to say, I’ll save that one for a future post.  In the mean time, I implore you to check out THINCS or any of the writings of Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, author of The Cholesterol Myths.

A little thing called nutrients

I would have preferred an actual breakdown of mg of each of the following nutrients rather than the “recommended daily percentage” based on a 2,000 calorie diet, but for the simple sake of comparison, these numbers will be more than adequate.  Again, this data is from Gyminee and again the whole egg is on the left, with the egg white on the right.  Look at all the goodies that the egg yolk has to offer!  Vitamins A, D, E, K!  Calcium!  All contained within the yolk of the egg, not the egg white.

Mother Nature (by way of a helpful chicken) has provided us, yet again, with a natural, healthy food that needs to have nothing added or removed to benefit our bodies.  It should simply be eaten the way she intended it: yolk included.

On average, I eat about two dozen eggs per week purchased, of course, fresh from the local farmer’s market (if you’ve never tasted “real” eggs from a farmer’s market, you don’t know what you’re missing out on).   Just keep in mind when cooking your egg that the more heat you apply, the more nutrients you are removing from the yolk.  A good rule of thumb for yolk is the runnier, the better!

Citations:

(1) Egg Breakfast Enhances Weight Loss

Ask Adam: How Much Protein?

Posted by Adam - 09/03/08 at 02:09:33 pm

First of all let me apologize for my extended absence. I had somewhat of an extended vacation and then 2 weeks of studies had me somewhat bogged down. However, I appreciate all of the questions sent my way and for the few that I was unable to respond to I will be getting at those shortly. But for now, I will take my time on this post to answer a question I have received a couple of times from various users:

How much protein do I need?

Not so surprisingly, this is a question that varies from person to person depending on several factors including sex, weight, muscle mass, and fitness goals.

One of the most common and overstated misconceptions about protein intake is “1 gram of protein for every pound” if you are trying to build muscle. Every personal trainer, high school coach, and body builder will claim that 1 gram of protein per pound is the very minimum you should take if you are trying to add muscle mass. Where this thought developed, I do not know, but ever since some nutrition numskull blurted it out of their ill advised mouth swarms of people have gone delusional with confusion.

Make note that every gram of protein is equivalent to 4 calories. When my poor little mother who weighs about 135 lbs was told by her new trainer to eat 1 gram of protein for every pound she weighed. She quickly realized that 45% of the calories of her recommended 1200 calorie diet was protein. This, as I told my dear mother, is wrong.

My mother was not trying to gain weight or muscle. She was trying to do what most middle aged women do- lose body fat. I quickly corrected her trainer and told her what every nutritionist learns in their first basic nutrition class: the DRI is 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of DESIRABLE body weight. Keep the desirable part in mind and not your CURRENT weight.

Just think about it: The largest amount of protein in our bodies makes up our “lean-tissue” (muscles, organs, and collagen in bone, teeth, cartilage, and ligaments). Determining how much protein you need in your diet to support protein turnover in your body is best estimated by basing it on how much lean tissue you have. Lean tissue is almost directly proportional to body weight (assuming you are not overweight because of excess fat). Finally, it only makes sense to use grams with kilograms rather than pounds for obvious metrical reasons.

So, now we go back to 7th grade math class to clean up our conversion skills. 1 kilogram is roughly 2.2 pounds. So my mother, who I mentioned weighs around 135 lbs, is trying to get down to 125 lbs. She would take 125 and divide that by 2.2 to get her desired weight in kilograms. Then, she would multiply that number by 0.8 to reach her goal for total grams of protein in a day:

125 lb ÷ 2.2 = 57 kg
57 kg x 0.8 = 46g of protein/day

This is about a third of what was recommended to her, and you can tell is an extremely drastic difference.

0.8 grams is only recommended for people trying to lose or maintain weight. If in fact you are trying to gain muscle mass, then remember that protein is the most important thing you can put into your body. The more you work out, the more protein you will need to build muscle. The more muscle you have, the more protein you will need to just maintain that muscle. As for a specific amount of protein to consume for gaining muscle mass, there is no easy formula. I personally recommend no more than 2 grams per kilograms you weigh unless you are a professional body builder or athlete. Too much protein can easily be detrimental to your body’s health.

Fun Nutrition Fact of The Week: Which of the following are berries?
a. Strawberry
b. Raspberry
c. Peach
d. Watermelon

“A berry is defined as “a fleshy fruit containing several seeds.” Strictly speaking, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are not berries but aggregated drupes- a drupe being a fleshy fruit containing a single stone or pit.
Peaches, plums, nectarines, and olives are drupes. The world’s largest drupe is the coconut, which, because of its hard flesh, is called a dry drupe.
Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are called aggregated drupes because each individual fruit is actually a cluster of miniature drupes- the characteristic bumpy bits which make up the blackberries and raspberries.
Each one of these drupelets contains a single tiny seed- these are the bits that get stuck in your teeth when you eat a blackberry.
Tomatoes, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, watermelons, kiwi fruit, cucumbers, grapes, passion fruit, papaya, peppers, and bananas are all berries.
Blueberries are also berries. They are variously known as bleaberries, billberries, whortleberries, huckleberries, hurtleberries, myrtleberries, and trackleberries.”

Lloyd, John, and John Mitchinson. The Book of General Ignorance. New York, NY:
Harmony Books, 2006.

Have a question about food or nutrition? Send Adam an email for the Ask Adam series on Gyminee Blog.

Breaking A Weight Loss Plateau

Posted by Susan - 08/27/08 at 11:08:17 am

At some point in your weight loss journey you will hit a plateau. This is especially true for those who are looking to lose those last 10 - 15 vanity pounds as your body prefers to hold on to that extra weight in case of an emergency (e.g., famine).

The key to moving past a plateau is to be honest about what is going on with both your diet and exercise routine.

The Diet. Losing weight is a numbers game (pun intended!) with the focus on creating a calorie deficit, while ensuring your deficit isn’t so great that you’re putting your body into starvation mode and slowing your metabolism. It’s about eating the right amount of food for your own body.

It’s imperative that you have the ability to accurately evaluate your diet which is why I am a BIG FAN of food journaling programs such as the one provided on Gyminee.com.

Food journaling programs provide you with the tools you need to evaluate your diet in detail, which makes it easier to pinpoint possible short-falls in your eating plan.

Your diet does not need to be perfect 100% of the time in order to continue to lose weight. Matter-of-fact, I subscribe to Dr. John Berardi’s 10% factor. As Dr. Berardi points out, the difference in results between 90% adherence and 100% adherence is negligible.

Let’s take a closer look at the 10% factor. If you eat 4 meals per day, that amounts to 28 meals per week. 10% of 28 is approximately 3 meals which means you get to eat 3 “imperfect” meals per week. These imperfect meals include both “junk food” and skipped feedings. Why skipped meals? Because severe calorie restriction slows the metabolism and leads to a reduction in your body’s ability to burn calories and fat. It’s as important to ensure you’re not under-eating as it is to ensure you’re not over-eating.

The Training Effect. The wondrous thing about the human body is its ability to adapt to physical stress. In order to change our body composition we need to continually stimulate our body and take it beyond its point of adaptation or comfort zone.

I learned this lesson the hard way, achieving limited results after spending hours in the gym doing the same cardio and strength training routine week after week. Once I started studying the physiology of exercise I came to understand that to lose weight you need to

1. Change your training routine every 4-weeks and,
2. Focus on quality, not quantity. Workouts don’t need to take hours; they need to be efficient.

If you’ve been exercising and watching your diet for a while and aren’t seeing results, it is likely due to one of the above. You need to evaluate and change your program on a regular basis to optimize results.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

Support Your Local Farmers

Posted by Brian - 08/21/08 at 08:08:29 am

Farming used to not only be a more respected line of work, but a necessity for feeding your family.   Food didn’t come from grocery store chains with over $70 billion dollars in revenue (1), but from the land and animals outside of your home and the sweat of your brow. Now days, we ignore the hard work of local, rise-with-the-sun, work-all-day farmers and turn to those national chains for our genetically enhanced fruits and vegetables, and grain-stuffed, inhumanely raised meats. Remember the “What is Food” post last month?  Food is supposed to be exactly how nature intended.  It’s not supposed to be genetically enhanced, and I’ve never seen nature’s cattle choosing to stuff themselves with grain containing antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, fertilizers, and protein supplements when there’s a large field of grass available.

Now, maybe this is specific to the area in which I live, but it seems to me that there has been positive movement lately toward buying more foods locally. Not that many years ago I didn’t hear much “support family farms” talk outside of the annual Farm Aid. For those who don’t know, Farm Aid was started 23 years ago in Champagne, Illinois by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp as an annual benefit concert to raise money for family farms throughout the country.  In addition to the founding artists, it has featured such performances as Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Buddy Guy, and Kenny Chesney.  But you don’t have to be a multi-millionaire recording artist with Sheryl Crow’s good looks (how hot is she at 46?!?!) to help support your local farmers.  There are several things that you can do in your area to benefit them, your health, and, often, your wallet.

1 - Farmer’s Markets

Farmer’s markets are, hands down, one the best ways to shop for food.  I can go to a farmer’s market, spend around $60, and walk away with enough fruits, vegetables, and meats to last me the entire week.  And that often includes some lamb that costs upwards of $8.00 /lb.  How many times can you say you’ve done that at the grocery store?  Although everything at the farmer’s market is natural and organic, those terms are too often haphazardly thrown around, so let’s just say that the food is straight from the ground/tree/animal to you…and it’s DE-licious!

In addition to the wonderful food you can buy there, farmer’s markets are a great way to make you feel a part of your community.  At the market I frequent, there are such things as stations where you can get fresh, cooked-to-order omelets and local coffee shops selling hot, incredible coffee in the morning.  It’s awesome to see people grabbing an omelet and some coffee, then sitting at one of the many cafeteria style tables, under the shade of a tent, and listening to the local musicians who often show up and play.

Odds are there are several farmer’s markets in your area that you may not know about it.  Check out these sites, which can direct you to ones close to you.

USDA Farmer’s Market Query

National Directory of Farmer’s Markets

Note: These searches are by no means definitive.  I know of several markets within 10-30 minutes of where I live that are not listed.

Or ask around!  There are more people doing their weekly shopping at farmer’s markets than you may realize.  Someone you know can probably help you get started.

2 - Join a CSA

Another option is to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  There is only one CSA in my area and although I would assume most of them operate similarly, your individual experience may vary.  The CSA that I have dealt with essentially works like a bank.  You start by making an opening deposit into an account at the beginning of the season and then you show up on a specific day of the week, at a specific location and get your share of the week’s yield of fruits and vegetables.  You share in the same risks and rewards the farmer does, so some weeks may be more plentiful than others.

Often, additional funds can be placed into you account and used to buy such things as eggs and meat.  It’s like using a debit card…only without the card.

3 - Buy local (grass-fed) meats

If you’re getting your meats from your farmer’s market or CSA, then you’ve already got this one covered, but it’s an important enough point that it warranted its own section.  Local, humanely raised, grass-fed meats are leaner, tastier, and have a better Omega 3-to-6 fatty acid ratio than the grain-fed, hormone pumped, filth…err…meat that’s sold in the grocery store.  We’ll dive into more of the specific differences between industrial and local meats in a future post, but suffice to say for the time being, the local stuff just better!

A friend and I just split 1/4 of a cow, purchased through the local CSA, that equated to 160lbs of meat for around $600 (yes, my freezer is almost overflowing).   And only about 50lbs of that was ground beef!!  The rest is steaks (ribeyes, T-bones, et al.), roasts, and even ribs.  That’s some high quality meat for only $3.75 a pound.  Last I checked (which has admittedly been a while) even a pound of grocery store ground beef was around $2.00.

Your Weekly Challenge

Here is your challenge for the week.  It’s easy and beneficial.  After you finish making that grocery list, either use the links mentioned in this article or consult a friend to find a farmer’s market near you.  Then, leave that list at home, and go to the market.  Buy enough meats, fruits, and vegetables to last you the week.  Then, at the end of the week, look at that grocery list again.  You’ll find that you’ve not only been eating tastier, healthier foods, but that most of the things on the list that weren’t available at the farmer’s market, you didn’t really need anyway.

Citations:

(1) - Wikipedia: Kroger

But The Box Says Zero Trans Fat

Posted by Susan - 08/13/08 at 10:08:17 am

Trans fat is back in the news due to the announcement last month that California is the first state to ban trans fat from restaurants beginning in 2010.

As a quick primer, trans fats are vegetable fats that have been chemically altered by a process called hydrogenation.

The process of hydrogenation involves adding hydrogen to liquid unsaturated fats to provide greater stability. This stability means a longer shelf life for products containing trans fat due to the fact that the hydrogenation process makes the liquid fats solid at room temperature.

While this is obviously good news for the food manufacturers, it is bad for the consumer. While our digestive system views hydrogenated fat as food, the bloodstream cannot use it. The hydrogenated fat remains in the blood stream for an extended period of time and leads to the subsequent formation of plaque which, in turn, leads to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The evils of trans fat have been well documented and in January 2006 it became mandatory for food manufacturer’s to list how much trans fat is in their products. Today it is commonplace to see the phrase “0 Grams Trans Fat” splattered across food packaging.

However, 2 1/2 years later, what many people don’t know is that while the nutrition label may say “0 Grams Trans Fat”, the product may still actually contain trans fat.

When the Food and Drug Administration passed this regulation there was a loophole created whereas any food that contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving can say it contains “0 grams of trans fat”. This enables some foods to appear much healthier than they really are.

Before you grab that box of crackers that you think may be good for you, check the ingredients listing and make certain that neither partially hydrogenated vegetable oil or vegetable shortening are listed.

If they are, you know that product contains trans fat and you can now make an educated decision – do you really want to put that into your body?

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

Eat More of This, Lose More Weight

Posted by SonOfKrypton - 08/12/08 at 10:08:42 am

Want to lose more weight?  Set aside the cereal and bagels and crack open a couple of eggs.  Saint Louis University researchers recently discovered that people who eat eggs as part of their daily breakfast were more likely to ingest fewer calories the rest of the day than those who did not.  The experiment was set up so that participants were given two choices of breakfasts: 1) two scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast, and one tablespoon of reduced-calorie fruit spread or 2) a bagel, 2 tablespoons of cream cheese, and 3 ounces of nonfat yogurt.

Caloric-wise, these two breakfasts were equal.  Even so, the consumers of the breakfast including eggs didn’t feel as hungry and actually ingested an average of 264 fewer calories at the end of the day, and 418 fewer calories over a 24 hour period.  Considering that there are 3500 calories in a pound of fat, those eating egg rich breakfasts could be shedding a pound off their body weight every 9 days.  Researchers aren’t exactly certain why eggs keep your appetite down, but they speculate that the high protein and monounsaturated fat (the good kind) content of eggs lead to a greater satiety.

Ask Adam: Fresh, Frozen, or Canned?

Posted by Adam - 08/11/08 at 02:08:14 pm

As this is my first post, I would like to introduce myself somewhat. I am currently enrolled in North Carolina State University, double majoring in Nutrition and Food Science and Biology. Food, health, and nutrition has always been a passion of mine and Gyminee has wonderfully granted me the ability to post on their blogs, and in turn I would like to include the Gyminee community in my posts. Every week I will take either a submitted question or a question from the Gyminee forums and post a response. To submit a question simply email me. This weeks Ask Adam post I am taking from the topic “Frozen vegetables & fruit.”

Are frozen vegetables as healthy as non-frozen?

One of the most talked about topics in nutrition is that of fresh foods vs. pre-packaged foods in regards to nutritional value. While much goes into this topic, I will briefly cover the three most popular choices of produce: Fresh, Frozen, and Canned (I will not cover dried foods). Before I dive right in I need to back up and mention a few basic facts about nutrients. The first important lesson you need to know is that nutrients can be “destroyed” (a change in their chemical characteristics) or “lost” (removed from the food but not changed chemically) from food for various reasons. Nutrients can be “destroyed” as a result of:

• Exposure to air (oxygen)
• Exposure to heat
• Exposure to light (sunlight or artificial)

Nutrients can also be “lost” as a result of:

• Exposure to water

The amount of nutrients that are destroyed or lost depends on several things:

• The length of time of the exposure (more time= greater destruction/loss)
• The temperature (higher heat= greater destruction/loss)
• The amount of the water (more water= greater destruction/loss)
• The amount of the food’s surface area that is exposed (smaller pieces= greater destruction/loss)

Fresh

Fresh foods are generally the choice of many. Over the years people have been led to believe that you have to have FRESH fruits and vegetables to get the full benefits of their nutrients. However, the “fresh” fruits and veggies you buy at the grocery store or fresh market usually have traveled quite some distance to get there. Also, many grocery stores are open 24/7, so they may encounter 24 hour light for several days before being purchased. And lastly, IF they are pre-cut and unpackaged, the exposure to air and light is very high.

Frozen Food

Many people who shy away from frozen foods do so because of “loss of taste.” In terms of nutritional content though a couple things must be taken into consideration. Firstly, foods that are frozen are usually picked at their peak maturity when the nutrient content is likewise to be at its peak. Also, most fruits and vegetables are “flash frozen” which has nearly negligible effect on nutrient content. Keep in mind that as long as frozen foods are kept frozen, their nutrient levels remain stable.

Canned Food

Canning food is an interesting process. Canning involves heating foods to a very high temperature for a very short period of time to kill off any microorganisms. Because the time exposure to heat is so small, the nutrient destruction is very low. While preservatives are used, most of the time the amount is minimal as there is little need due to the flash heating. Also note that most canned food sits in water, so water soluble vitamins (the B’s and vitamin C) and various other minerals will actually leach out into the water of the can. Fortunatly, these “lost” vitamins and minerals can be “recaptured” by simply consuming the liquid.

Conclusion

Research has proven that “fresh” fruits and vegetables actually contain significantly less heat and light liable nutrients than frozen or canned foods. Other than this, the nutritional content is remarkably the same. Canned and frozen foods should not be identified as less healthy than fresh foods when the opposite is true and in canned foods there is actually some evidence that suggests phytochemicals in the carotenoid family (like beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein) are made more available through the heating process.  For those of you who wish to find alternative choices with less preservatives, seek out your local farmers market and find the foods that were picked the most recent and ask them about their pesticide practices.

While this has been a brief overview of the topic, the choice is yours and my advice is to eat what you feel comfortable and what you find reasonable. Compare the nutritional information on the label of products with the USDA choice in the Gyminee database and see what adds up. Researching your own foods and knowing what you are eating is a great way to stay healthy!

Fun Nutrition Fact of The Week:
Everyone likes waffles right? But did you know that waffles have been around for thousands of years? The first waffles were cooked between two very hot metal plates by the ancient greeks. They were called obleios, and later called oublies in the middle ages. The word waffle originally comes from the Dutch version in the mid 1600s from the American Pilgrims who lived in Holland before coming to America. Waffle parties were very popular in the 18th century and Thomas Jefferson brought the first waffle iron to American from France. It was not until a century later that maply syrup became popular on waffles sold on street corners. In 1953 the first frozen waffle began being sold, the Eggo Waffle. 1964’s World Fair introduced the “Belgian Waffle” to the world, which were fatter and thicker. The rest, is history.

Have a question about food or nutrition? Send Adam an email for the Ask Adam series on Gyminee Blog.

Hitting the H20

Posted by GenaM - 08/01/08 at 09:08:55 am

Are you looking for simple ways to improve your health and shed the bulky effects of too many Big Macs? Are looking for ways to do it without settling for a life of endless carrot sticks and grilled chicken breasts? If so, then look no farther than your kitchen faucet.

A 2006 study presented by the Obesity Society found that people who replace water for calorie-filled drinks lose an additional five pounds per year, and those who take it a step further and increase their water intake by as little as two cups per day, drop another two pounds per year. In addition to happier times with your scale, adequate water intake improves your overall health by regulating body temperature, maintaining blood pressure, delivering nutrients to cells and improving waste elimination.

So the next time you’re tempted to reach for a soda, try filling your water bottle instead. To make the whole process a little easier, try carrying a 32-ounce bottle with you throughout your day. Determine to empty it once during the morning hours before lunch and again in the afternoon before dinner. It’s a simple way to keep track of your water and reach your goal without running to the water cooler eight… separate… times.

If you aren’t sure how much water you actually drink each day, be sure to use Gyminee’s WaterTracker. It’s a great way to monitor your daily water intake over time and set small goals – one glass at a time.

How about you? Do you have a simple and effective way for getting your 8-10 glasses of water each day? Let us know about it!

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