Author: Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN
Where does fat go when you lose it?
Pride goeth before a fail.
When I saw this headline earlier this morning, I clicked through (Mission accomplished, headline writers) and skimmed the article, which seemed to contradict the basic facts that we all learn in nutritional biochemistry. Having not yet had my coffee (yes, I’m making lame excuses), I impulsively posted it on Facebook with a “Shame on you, CNN” comment.
Fortunately, my followers are smarter than I am…and are not afraid to tell me so. So, let me try this again, appropriately humbled.
Let’s Play Biochemistry Gotcha!
Had I been one of those-who-should-know-better surveyed by the authors, I too would have fallen into the trap and said that fat is converted into energy (with water and CO2 as byproducts). But this is not quite accurate. Continue reading “Where does fat go when you lose it?”
Is Halo Top Ice Cream Healthy?
Piper writes:
“Ordinarily, I try to eat natural, whole foods. But I have a soft spot – literally and figuratively — for ice cream. There are some new brands of ice cream, such as Halo Top, that are supposedly higher in protein and lower in fat, sugar, and calories. The main ingredients are milk protein concentrate, erythritol, corn fiber, and other things one would not find in premium ice cream. Being able to eat an entire pint of ice cream for just a few hundred calories is tempting. But are these products too processed to be good for us?”
Premium ice creams made from milk, cream, and sugar can claim to be less highly processed and perhaps more “natural.” They are also deliciously rich–meaning, high in sugar, fat, and calories. If you’re the type that can savor the recommended (but ridiculously small) half-cup serving size, you can enjoy a decadent treat without doing too much damage.
The problem is that most of us can easily plow through an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s (did I mention the part about delicious?), at which point we’ve consumed a half day’s worth of calories and four day’s worth of added sugar.
One of the big attractions of Halo Top ice cream is that you can eat the entire pint for about the same number of calories as a tiny scoop of Ben and Jerry’s. You also get 20 grams of high-quality protein, 12 grams of fiber, and 24 grams (one day’s worth) of added sugars. For many people, Halo Top wouldn’t just be a healthier dessert option; it would make a more nutritious breakfast!
What is in this stuff?
Although taste is highly subjective, I actually think they taste pretty darned good. Which is surprising when you look at the ingredient list, which contains things like erythritol, prebiotic fiber, milk protein concentrate, vegetable glycerin, organic guar gum and organic stevia leaf extract (in addition to things like milk, eggs, cream, and cane sugar).
This is not a minimally-processed food, by any stretch of the imagination. But perhaps this is processing put to a good cause. Continue reading “Is Halo Top Ice Cream Healthy?”
Can collagen supplements make your skin younger?
There’s a lot of buzz about collagen peptide supplements these days. Collagen is a structural protein present in the skin, joints, hair and nails. The gradual loss of collagen as we age can make the skin look less plump. The idea is that collagen supplements can replace some of that lost collagen and improve the look of the skin.
Assessing the effectiveness of skin care products or supplements is notoriously difficult. For one thing, it’s difficult to isolate the effects of any particular cream or pill. The condition of our skin surface can be affected by diet, hydration, sun exposure, temperature and humidity. It’s also really hard to be objective about what we’re seeing in the mirror. So how do we know whether these supplements are actually working? Continue reading “Can collagen supplements make your skin younger?”
What exactly is water weight?
Hai-Ting asks: “What exactly is water weight? It’s a phrase that gets thrown around a lot. I would love to know what we are talking about. How and why do we gain and lose so much water?”
If you are in the habit of getting on the scale every morning (a practice which is linked with healthier body weights over the long-term) you’ve probably noticed that your weight can vary wildly from day to day—in ways that sometimes seem unfair. “How could I have gained two pounds overnight? I had a salad for lunch and skipped dessert at dinner. I should weigh two pounds less!”
It’s tempting to think whatever we did or didn’t eat yesterday should show up the next day on the scale. But it doesn’t work that way. As Dan Ariely pointed out in our recent interview, it takes a lot longer for dietary changes to result in fat loss (or gain). If you gain or lose three or four pounds overnight, most of that is probably due to water weight.
This article is also available as a podcast. Click below to listen
Where is Water Weight Stored
Our bodies contain a lot of water, but we’re not just giant water balloons. Water is held in a variety of places in the body. Some of these don’t change very much from day to day. Our bones, for example, are about 30% water but that stays relatively constant.
Other compartments, such as our stomachs and bladders, can hold relatively large amounts of water, but only on a very temporary basis. And here’s the thing: Water is heavy. A pint of water (or, for that matter, beer) weighs about one pound.
If you were to weigh yourself, drink 16 ounces of fluids and immediately weigh yourself again, you’d have “gained” one pound in about 15 seconds. A couple of hours later, a lot of that water will be collected in your bladder. Weigh yourself before and after visiting the bathroom and you can enjoy the thrill of “losing” up to a pound in 15 seconds.
Obviously, the amount of fluid in your stomach and bladder have a fairly profound (yet meaningless) effect on your body weight at any given moment. But that’s not the only thing we’re talking about when we mention water weight.
In between the stomach and the bladder, things get a bit more complex. As it passes through the small intestines, the water we consume is absorbed into the bloodstream and distributed throughout the body’s organs and tissues, where it is used for all kinds of things, everything from lubricating our membranes to metabolizing nutrients to maintaining electrolyte balance. All of these activities affect the amount of water retained in our bodies.
Water is a major component of perspiration, for example. Heavy sweating can cause us to lose a lot of water weight in a relatively short period of time. Run a few miles on a hot day and jump on the scale before rehydrating and you’ll see how much water you’ve lost. (You probably won’t, however, see how much fat you burned.)
Water is also involved in lots of different chemical reactions. Some reactions—such as converting carbohydrates into glycogen—require water. Others—such as breaking down proteins—release water.
Sudden changes in the protein or carbohydrate content of your diet can either lock up or mobilize relatively large amounts of water.
How Diet Affects Water Weight
If you dramatically reduce the amount of carbohydrates you are eating, your body will be forced to dip into the glycogen stored in your muscles and liver for energy. As the glycogen is used for energy, a lot of water is released into the bloodstream and routed to the kidneys for elimination. Obviously, this has nothing to do with fat loss but it does give low-carb dieters a big sense of accomplishment during the first few days of their diet.
Even if you don’t go low carb, suddenly reducing your calorie intake will also force the body to use its glycogen stores and result in some water loss. The effect is just not quite as dramatic as it is with a low carb diet.
This effect is also completely reversible. As soon as you start eating more calories or carbohydrates, your body will use some of those carbs plus some water to restock its depleted glycogen energy stores, leading to an increase in water weight.
But these sorts of changes in water weight don’t represent changes in your fat stores. That’s going to have more to do with how many calories you take in and burn over the long term, not how many of them are from carbohydrates.
Although it takes a lot longer to lose fat than it does to lose water, there is a pretty big consolation prize: The resulting changes in your body size (and how your jeans fit) are much more durable. Having a piece of bread with dinner won’t undo them by morning.
How Kidneys Regulate Water Retention
Eventually, all the water in your body passes through the kidneys, which regulate how much water is either retained or eliminated in order to maintain the right amount of fluids and concentration of electrolytes. This process is directed by hormones released by the pituitary and adrenal glands.
Any health condition that affects the kidneys or the glands that secrete these hormones can cause this delicate balancing system to go awry—causing excess water retention. Less alarming but still frustrating is the temporary water retention that many women experience before their period, due to fluctuations in hormone levels.
What Foods and Nutrients Reduce Water Retention
There’s not too much we can do about our hormones. But there are a few dietary factors that we can control. Eating a lot of salt, for example, can cause the kidneys to keep more water in circulation in order to dilute the extra sodium. Reducing your sodium intake (or, paradoxically, increasing water intake) can help reduce water retention.
It may also be useful to increase your intake of green vegetables. In addition to being high in water, they are also good sources of magnesium and potassium, which may help relieve water retention. In particular, dandelion greens and asparagus are known to have diuretic properties.
As tempting as it might be, I don’t recommend using diuretic supplements or teas to get rid of water weight, except as directed by a health practitioner. Overdoing it with diuretics can lead to dehydration and electrolyte imbalances, which can be potentially serious.
The Quick and Dirty on Water Weight
Water weight can come and go for a variety of reasons, but most are temporary and not related to long-term changes in body fat. Don’t get too freaked out (or impressed) by big swings on the scale. A moving average calculator can help smooth out those meaningless ups and downs and reveal what’s really going on with your weight.
Quick Facts on E. Coli
Thanks to the folks at FoodInsight.org for this quick tutorial on one of the most common sources of food-borne illness and how to protect yourself and your family from infection.
What’s the best diet for your genetics?
Personalized nutrition is getting a lot of attention these days. Companies will analyze your DNA and tell you what foods and supplements you should and shouldn’t eat based on your genetic profile. But a huge new study throws cold water on the idea of matching your diet to your genetics. Participants with a “low-carb genotype” (who would hypothetically do better on a low-carb diet) were no more successful on a low-carb diet than on a low-fat diet. The same was true for those with a “low-fat genotype.”
The study also found that, overall, low-carb diets are no better or worse than low-fat diets at producing weight loss. Those are the two headlines from this study. (Examine.com has produced an excellent detailed analysis of the study, if you want to take a deeper dive.)
But there is so much more here that warrants mentioning. Here’s what really got my attention:
None of the study participants were asked to count or limit their calories. Instead, both groups were told to limit their intake of added sugars, refined flour and junk food, and to eat lots of vegetables and whole foods. And that was enough to produce weight loss. In other words, when you pay attention to the quality of your food choices, the calories often take care of themselves. And when you’re eating a healthy, whole foods diet, low carb is no more effective than low fat.
[bctt tweet=”When you pay attention to the quality of your food choices, the calories often take care of themselves. ” username=”nutritiondiva”]
The other thing that’s notable about this study is that the participants received intensive coaching throughout the year. They were taught how to choose foods that kept them satisfied for fewer calories. They were encouraged to avoid distracted eating and eat more mindfully. Making sustainable changes was a bigger priority than achieving fast weight loss. (All of this will sound very familiar to participants of the Weighless program, our 12-month coaching program for sustainable weight loss.)
[bctt tweet=”Making sustainable changes matters more than achieving fast weight loss.” username=”nutritiondiva”]
At the end of the study, the most successful participants reported having changed their relationship to food. And that’s ultimately what’s required for permanent weight loss. Not calorie or fat or carb counting.
Click here to learn more about the Weighless Program.
Is IV Nutrition Worth a Try?
If you have a confirmed deficiency of a specific nutrient, or a condition that prevents you from absorbing nutrients delivered orally, IV nutrition might make sense. And if you were severely dehydrated, an IV can be an efficient way to deliver fluids.
But I have grave reservations about these “IV therapy” clinics that are springing up and pumping people full of nutrient cocktails. Although it’s promoted as everything from a hangover cure to energy booster to anti-aging therapy, most of the claims are not supported by evidence and may even be unsafe.
IV fluids may help relieve some of the acute symptoms of a hangover (many of which are due to dehydration), but won’t counteract the other harmful effects of drinking too much. More questionable are the alleged benefits of the vitamins, minerals, and other compounds used in IV therapy.
Supplying nutrients in excess of the body’s needs will not make your cellular processes work better or faster, any more than over-filling your gas tank will make your car run faster.
High doses of antioxidants can even shut down the body’s own antioxidant mechanisms.
There are also general risks associated with any IV therapy, such as infection or hematoma.
Those administering IV therapy may be well-meaning but uninformed, or they may simply be out to make a buck. Given the lack of regulation and oversight (and research), I think I’d steer clear.