Do these 4 things to kick-start your weight loss Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash Dieting is confusing, especially when what works for your best friend doesn't work for you even when you know that you've been just as diligent. Guess what? Scientists have discovered that your gut plays a massive role in the success of dieting.
I didn't understand the caffeine load in tea Photo by Manki Kim on Unsplash Having felt uncharacteristically sick for more than a week, I saw my doctor this morning. He ruled out everything except something upsetting my gastrointestinal tract, and he took notice when I said I'm drinking a lot more tea.
I'd never thought about tea and caffeine and any side-effects. I knew that it had caffeine, but I associate coffee with excess caffeine - I even wrote a post about it not so long ago.  Photo by Erfan Amiri on Unsplash I'm drinking more tea since I learnt thisTea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world after water and is a major source of dietary flavonoids. Yet surprisingly, the way in which tea supports our health is still unknown (June, 2019). Some studies have found that drinking tea also reduces levels of cortisol and therefore stress - useful in these times of the pandemic.
If you don't yet drink enough tea (I don't) then perhaps it is time to take up the habit. Here's why. For centuries, tea has been anecdotally linked to digestive health, and research studies have convincingly associated consumption of black tea with reduced cardiovascular risk. This benefit of tea is attributed to substances called polyphenols, such as catechins. Polyphenols are chemical compounds that protect plants from ultraviolet radiation and harmful, disease-causing pathogens. Flavonoids are one type of polyphenol.  Photo by Erik-Jan Leusink on Unsplash Here’s why, and how to fix itVitamin D is free - from sunshine, yet amazingly vitamin D deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide (2019).
This deficiency is terrible for our health, and neglectful, considering how easy it is to get the optimum dose.  Photo by Marco Secchi on Unsplash Including helping maintain healthy blood pressureHigh blood pressure is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease in developed countries. Yet some countries, such as Italy and Japan, have low rates of high blood pressure and lower mortality rates due to CVD.
That's not because they all go to the gym 5 times a week or due CrossFit. The reason is far less complicated and available to everyone. They eat more fruit and vegetables, and in particular more nitrate-rich vegetables.  Photo by Bradley Howington on Unsplash 50-percent of the health benefits are from the skinIn the Western world, citrus peels are mostly just byproducts of juicing and treated as waste. That's a pity, as they contain many phenolic compounds which are proven to be beneficial to our Western lifestyle and diet-induced diseases.
By consuming the whole citrus fruit, we gain far more health benefits than by just eating the flesh. There are more health benefits from compounds in the skin and membranes than from just those in the flesh. The compounds in the non-flesh parts of oranges are so powerful that in some parts of the world they are used as traditional medicine to cure fungal and bacterial infections, human colon and breast cancer by alternative therapists. 
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
Swap snacks for these nuts and watch your weight benefit
Pistachio nuts are often regarded simply as a salty snack - calorie-heavy and salted to tempt you to drink more. That's unfortunate, as there is a lot more to pistachios than just being a great beer snack.
They are one of healthiest nuts that you can eat, along with almonds and walnuts and Brazil nuts. And they can help you better manage your weight.  Photo by Eric Stone on Unsplash How slow is slow, and is the fat-burning zone even true?We've all heard about the "fat-burning zone" and that we should exercise aerobically at low intensity to burn the most fat. I've always been sceptical about this advice, so I dug into the science.
Does the science support this advice, and what is low intensity anyway?  Photo by Davies Designs Studio on Unsplash But if you don’t do these three things you're unlikely to keep it offIf you're looking to lose weight and to keep it off, you've no doubt been told to avoid crash dieting. Often The Biggest Loser is cited as the worst example to follow. We all know that the contestants mostly put all their weight back on, and more, right?
Wrong. What research shows works best is what you've been told not to do. A study just published (March, 2020) confirms yet again that a large rapid rate loss is the best predictor of the long term ability to maintain weight loss.  Image Credit: MarkSweep - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41936 Headline: to maintain a healthy heart and blood pressure, people must limit their coffeesDrinking too many cups of coffee a day is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), e.g. heart disease and stroke, new research from the University of South Australia reveals.
The world enjoys about three billion cups of coffee every day. We'd hope that we're not poisoning ourselves! If you've ever felt jittery or irritable after one cup too many, then you are edging on the dangers found by the researchers. I don’t feel jittery or irritable but I do drink more than the recommended number of cups daily. All things considered, I probably won’t cut back. |
ChoicesSince I was diagnosed at 50 with Type 2 diabetes I've been learning how to do bone-building fitness training which lowers my age. You can too. It's your choice. Walter Categories
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