Should You Eat Breakfast?

Why You Need to Eat Breakfast
Starting your day with a meal
that combines unprocessed or minimally processed grains (oats, Muesli, quinoa) and protein (Greek yogurt, eggs)
improves overall health and your ability to lose weight. Here’s why: Eating
breakfast sets your body up to better metabolize lunch through a phenomenon
known as the second meal effect. The second meal effect describes a
biochemical shift that occurs in your body as a result of eating breakfast that leads to better blood sugar control
after lunch. This doesn’t happen when you skip your morning meal. But
simply eating breakfast isn’t enough.

What You Should Eat for
Breakfast
Most traditional breakfast foods are high in
carbohydrates/sugar, low in fat, and low in protein (i.e. a bowl of cereal). If you
improve the overall nutritional quality of your breakfast, you’ll reap
benefits beyond just the second meal effect. Here’s your simple plan to makeover
the morning meal:

1.
Improve the quality of carbohydrates you’re eating for breakfast. The Cereal
F.A.C.T.S. 2012 report recently released from the Yale Rudd Center for Food
Policy & Obesity found that 63 percent of the cereals in commercials viewed
by adults have a sugar content higher than 20 percent.  Opt for the lower sugar,
high fiber, minimally processed breakfast grains (oats, sprouted grain cereals, etc.) for better focus and mental
performance throughout the morning.

2. Add protein. Having protein-rich

meals throughout the day is a key strategy in maintaining calorie-burning
muscles. Plus, one study found that breakfast was the only meal of the day in
which increased protein helped in satiety and fullness. Make sure your breakfast
contains protein-rich foods like eggs, egg whites, Greek yogurt, or a protein
shake to reap these two metabolic advantages.

The Bonus
Benefit
From a physiological standpoint, I have always found that
starting the day with a nutritious breakfast sets the tone for a day of healthy
eating. By having a well-rounded and nutritious breakfast you are sending a message to
your body that you are going to do what it takes to be fit and healthy. A
unifying characteristic of most of the perennially lean and healthy people that
I know and have coached is that the all eat breakfast.

Here’s one of my
favorite hearty breakfasts:

Blueberry Crunch Yogurt
Bowl
About 500 calories (40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, 30%
fat)

Ingredients:
2/3 cup fresh or frozen
blueberries
¼ cup sprouted grain cereal
1 cup fat-free plain Greek
yogurt
½ scoop vanilla protein
1 Tbsp Chia seeds
2 Tbsp chopped
walnuts

Directions: Mix all the ingredients together in
a bowl and enjoy.

Healthy Icecream for Hospital Recovery Patients

Though they are in the business of healing patients, hospitals and long-term care facilities are rife with germs and bacteria that can hinder a patient’s road to recovery. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), two million patients per year pick up infections in U.S. hospitals. About 90,000 die as a result of these deaths, with approximately 70% caused by bacteria that are resistant to at least one antibiotic. Those figures were a compelling factor in the creation of HHice Cream Probiotic Defense, a “healthy hospital” frozen yogurt mix developed by NEWtritious, a relatively new startup food and beverage company based in Los Angeles, CA.

HHice Cream, which debuted at Natural Products Expo West, is designed to deliver “viable and potent probiotics along with a beneficial serving of vitamins and minerals,” and provides “much-needed supplementation” in the form of a cooling soft-serve to coax patients—especially pediatric and geriatric patients—who are reluctant to eat in the hospital. The product’s marquis ingredient is GanedenBC30, a patented strain of probiotic bacteria Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086, which according to the company may help enhance immune system response while supporting gut health.

“Each cell of GanedenBC30 contains a hardened structure, or spore, which is similar to a seed,” explained Michael Arlen, founder and president of NEWtritious. “This spore or seed, serves as a natural protective shield against the strong acids in your stomach to arrive alive and then thrive in your intestines—their intended target. GanedenBC30 is designed by nature to survive and thrive so more probiotic cells can help support your immune system.”

To ensure its probiotic would perform as expected NEWtritious sponsored research at the University of Reading in the U.K. on its proprietary strain BC30. In vitro fermenters (continuous culture) were used to assess the persistence of BC30 in the background of a complex mixed microbiota, and modern molecular based technologies were used to assess microbial changes in the fermenters. The researchers found BC30 to be “effective at persisting in the reactors for the duration of the experimental period,” with no negative effects of supplementation determined.

The researchers also reported that their co-culture work showed that BC30 could exert anti-microbial activity against C. difficile, C. perfringens and Listeria monocytogenes (to varying degrees). And in a culture system designed to favor C. difficile growth, the probiotic demonstrated the ability to repress the pathogen. “In the human situation where persons at risk of C. difficile associated diarrhoea are likely to be taking antibiotics, the BC30 sporulation is almost certain,” the researchers reported. “We propose that both the level of growth (i.e. number of vegetative cells) and phase of growth (i.e. log phase, late log phase, or sporulation) are important factors in the expression of anti-microbial compounds from Bacillus probiotics. We also suggest that the (unique among probiotics) bi-modal lifecycle of BC30 may lead to antimicrobial activity in distal regions of the gastrointestinal tract. This is an important facet given the prevalence of gut disorders in the left side of the large intestine.”

NEWtritious is promoting the product for its ability to “deliver active cultures more effectively than yogurt,” citing an independent lab study that simulated a gastric environment with a pH of 2.0 for two hours during which GanedenBC30 delivered more than 10 times the live cells than common probiotic yogurt cultures.

Mr. Arlen said GanedenBC30 does not adversely influence HHice Cream’s taste, mouth feel, texture or color. “HHice Cream is both appealing and delicious, and can be the perfect solution for those having difficulty swallowing or suffering from alimentary tract inflammation due to chemotherapy or surgery,” he said. “It also provides an enjoyable way to deliver nutrition to children during their hospital stay, as well as healthcare professionals on the go.”

 In addition to Vanilla, 3 D Chocolate (Deep Dark Dutch) and Tart, hospitals can purchase flavored syrups or powders that blend with the Tart Mix for an assortment of soft-serves varieties including: Almond, Banana, Blueberry, Coconut, Green Tea, Kiwi, Lemon Ice, Lychee, Mango, Mint, Passion Fruit, Peach, Pistachio, Pomegranate, Raspberry, Strawberry and Strawberry Banana. - Nutraceuticals World Now

Chewing Gum for the Perfect 2012 Weight Loss Plan

Nicotine gum can be helpful for smokers trying to quit, so what if there was a way to formulate a gum that could help you quit overeating and lose weight faster? According to recent research reported by Science Daily, the idea of using a weight-loss ‘gum’ may not be that far-fetched.

Syracuse University scientist Robert Doyle and his research team were able to show that a hormone called ‘PPY’ (that helps you feel full after you eat) can be successfully released into your bloodstream orally. PPY is a natural appetite-suppressing hormone made by your body that is usually released after you eat or exercise. It appears to have a direct affect on your weight: research has proven that overweight individuals have lower concentrations of PPY in their system (both after fasting and eating). Science has also found that it aids in weight loss: PPY delivered intravenously successfully increased levels of PPY and reduced calorie intake in both obese and non-obese test subjects.

What makes Doyle’s study (originally published online in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Medicinal Chemistry) so notable is that his team found a way to successfully deliver the hormone to the bloodstream orally by using vitamin B-12 (when ingested alone the hormone is destroyed by the stomach or can’t be absorbed fully in the intestines) as a method of delivery. Doyle’s team hopes to formulate a “PPY-laced” gum or tablet that you would be able to take after a meal to reduce your appetite several hours later (before the next mealtime), helping you eat less overall.

In the meantime, you can help improve the effectiveness of your body’s natural fullness mechanisms by eating a balanced diet full of nutrient-dense, naturally low-calorie, high-fiber foods and exercising regularly. Consuming unprocessed, whole foods can help naturally reduce your appetite. And some research shows that combining a healthy diet and regular exercise—or exercising within an hour after eating—may help your body release more ‘hunger hormones’ (including PPY) on it’s own.

What do you think? Would you buy (and use) a weight loss gum like this if it were available? Leave a comment and tell us your thoughts!
 

Source: Science Daily

Start Off Your New Year Rye

EATING RYE TOAST FOR BREAKFAST may be the easiest way to stop afternoon snacking. New research from Sweden reveals that rye bread helps increase feelings of fullness for up to eight hours. In the study, which was  co-authored by Hanna Isaksson, a PhD candidate at the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences, subjects were fed a breakfast of either rye toast or wheat toast with margarine and apricot marmalade. When satiety, hunger and desire to eat were measured later int he morning, and hours later in the afternoon, eaters of the rye bread reported feeling less hungry and less interested in eating.

“The fact that satiety remained high even after a standardized lunch indicates that there are physiological effects that prolong digestion,” says Isaksson. The high fiber content in rye bread is thought to be the key factor to this prolonged feeling of fullness, but Isaksson thinks that psychology may play into the results, too; she says that people expect dark breads to keep them full for longer than light-colored ones.

Source: Hanna Isaksson

Holiday Brunch Calorie Burner – O.J.

With all the holiday meals going on, brunch is becoming a weekend ritual. Brunch is definitely not the healthiest meal of the week. With menu including stacks of pancakes, plate size omelettes and extra helpings of bacon this feast takes the place of breakfast and lunch and probably still pushes your calorie, fat, and carb intake over the edge. But if you do indulge in the occasional Sunday splurge, drinking orange juice can minimize some of the negative health effects of the big brunch.

No, OJ won’t burn through all of the excess calories you consume, but it can help ease the inflammation that often accompanies eating unhealthy foods. According to researchers at the University of Buffalo, orange juice helps reduce the number of free radicals in the blood after high-fat and carb-heavy meals, and it can also regulate insulin resistance. Of course, this isn’t an all-out free pass to eat whatever you want-but to keep the occasional binge from adversely affecting your health, a glass of OJ can help.

~Source: Jessica Cassity