Popular Diets Reviewed

From manrepeller.com

Weight loss diets in 2017 are more eating strategies for better health than the traditional Twinkie, Grapefruit, or White Food crash diets of the past. Many of them seem to be focused on minimizing gut damage symptoms. They all have eliminating processed foods, sugar and eating fresh foods in their natural state as a main theme. 

Dr. Robin Berzin on Man Repeller has done a quick and informative analysis of the most popular of these diets. 

Blood Sugar Levels and Weight Gain

Information is power and a blood sugar level can be a valuable metabolism management and weight loss tool. A blood sugar level can indicate your insulin production after you eat carbohydrates. 

The amount of insulin that is produced after eating carbohydrates is individual and can vary dramatically in different people. Higher insulin production is associated with weight gain. Think about the person who just looks at carbs and gains weight. In contrast, that person who eats pizza and french fries and never gains weight, probably has a low insulin response.

To find out, if you have an over enthusiastic insulin response to carbohydrates, take your blood sugar level two hours after you eat a simple carbohydrate heavy meal. Something like a bagel with jelly. If your blood sugar is over 140 after 2 hours, you have a high insulin response. Consuming carbohydrates contributes to your weight gain.

It is important to know your fasting blood sugar before you do a challenge. Measure your blood sugar in the morning before you eat. It should be under 90. If it is over 90, it indicates you are having a problem metabolizing the carbohydrates in your diet. Without a lifestyle change, your blood sugar will continue to climb. If it is over 125 on two separate mornings,  you meet the criteria for type 2 diabetes and should see a doctor.

Milk Thistle Can Help Weight loss

Milk thistle 

Body fat is like a hoarder. But, instead of piles of trash in the living room, environmental toxins from things like pesticides, plastics, and pollution are housed in body fat. 

Your weight loss plateau could be caused by an overload of those toxins being released in the body as your fat is burned as fuel. Yes, weight loss can be toxic. 

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum), a potent liver detoxifier, can restore energy and fat burning by helping clear the body of excess toxins, which slow your metabolism.

For an active detox, while you're losing weight, try 150 mgs of milk thistle 1-3 times daily. For ongoing support, the dose is 50 mg 1-3 times daily. Milk thistle dosages are individual and too much can result in GI distress.

Look for a product that is 80% pure milk thistle extract. You can also use a blend that combines milk thistle with other herbs that aid in liver function. As with all supplements: if it works for you, go with it, if is doesn't work for you, move on.

What About Stevia?

from Global Stevia Institute

What's not to love about stevia? It's a sweet little herb. It has no calories and doesn't raise blood sugar.

So, what's the downside? It seems that actual stevia can be tricky to find and will involve extensive label reading. One reason is that stevia is 200 times sweeter than sugar resulting in manufacturers bulking it up with added ingredients.

Products like Truvia are not really stevia. Trivia's main ingredient is erythritol, a poorly absorbed sugar alcohol, which can cause GI distress and headaches. Or, Stevia In The Raw, which contains more dextrose than stevia is somewhat misleading. Even an organic product like Sweet Leaf has more inulin fiber than stevia. Others add flavor enhancers and thickeners. 

 Dr. Axe has some excellent information on stevia, with lots of green and yellow graphics.

It is important to remember that, just like with sugars, the brain's drive for sweet is intensified and the ability to taste sweet is diminished by Stevia. As a result, naturally sweet foods like fruits and vegetables may not be perceived as sweet. 

Know Your Carbs

from dietdoctor.com

Losing fat by reducing the percentage of calories from carbohydrates is generally agreed to be an effect weight loss strategy. It's not a new concept. It is the principle of diets ranging from the Atkins Diet to Paleo to the Mediterranean Diet. 

The website Diet Doctor has a world of expert information on low carb eating. 

Whether you just want to recognize a carb before you eat it, get some delicous lower carb recipes, or learn about a ketogenic diet, this is your go to resource.

Read Yourself Healthy

David Kessler's book, The End of Overeating: Taking Control of America's Insatiable Appetite, has the power to change the way you look at food, what food you eat,  and where you choose to eat that food.

The first part is an explanation of how and why we eat. The second part exposes how the food industry uses that knowledge to manipulate food to increase appetite and consumption. The last part puts it together.

Or, if you prefer to hear the author speak, you can watch David Kessler give a lecture.

Less Butter More Fat

While Americans eat closely the same proportion of carbs, protein, and fat as they did in 1889, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the past 50 years. Why? I choose to focus on the reduced butter consumption; however, it may be more complex.

Those smart people at Authority Nutrition have a more complete takeaway of Stephan Guyenet's TedxHarvardLaw talk, along with the talk on their website. 

Putting Portions in Proportion

Seems that the larger the plate, the smaller the food looks... and the more we eat. The amount of food we perceive is relative to how much of the plate is showing, because of something called the Delboeuf Illusion. It blocks our ability to calculate the size of circles when they are surrounded by other circles. Square plates, perhaps?

How To Be a Meal-Preppy

Do you aspire to be a trendy foodie,  causally eating a beautiful salad from a mason jar, while others microwave frozen Lean Cuisine? Hello Glow is all about the beauty of healthy.

Be A Good Host

Feed your gut bacteria and they will be your best friend. You feed them resistant starch and they make you lean, energetic, and happy by producing butyrate.

One of the easiest ways to increase butyrate production is by adding resistant starch with a daily serving of green banana flour. 

The good news is that butter and ghee are rich scores of butyrate (butyr... butter). And, to make it even better news, cooked potatoes and yams, after they have cooled, are another excellent source of  butyrate through resistant starch. Reheating does not change the resistant starch.

Conventional wisdom has been that, when you eat fiber, it fills you up and you lose weight because you eat less.  However, it seems the reasons for weight loss are more complex and unexpected than just calories. So... what about those skinny French women and their butter obsession?

Are Fruits and Veggies Making You Fat?

You do not have to be a weed or bug to know that herbicides and pesticides are poison and definitely not part of a healthy diet. Besides giving you terminal diseases, they can make you tired, grumpy, and fat.

I know, you're thinking the cost of eating 100% organic will make you poor, grumpy, and homeless.

Fortunately, the conscientious people at ewg.org have made two lists of produce, The Clean Fifteen and The Dirty Dozen.  You can even download the app for free.

Daily Food Porn

If you are what you eat, then prepare to be healthy, delicious, and completely gorgeous with recipes from Feasting at Home.

Stressed? You Talk'n to Me?

Is that chocolate bar the only thing keeping you sane and pleasant? Do you feel like you have a coffee deficiency? Are you too busy to get anything done? The answer to a happier, more energetic and healthier future may be as simple as better living through chemistry.