| Compiled by Steve Edwards Contents - Fresh Mex Not As Healthy As It Seems
- Obesity Still On The Rise
- Low Carb Diets Again Make Headlines
|
Fresh Mex Not As Healthy As It SeemsBe careful on those "guiltless" trips to those healthy-style Mexican joints that are sprouting up all over the country. According to a study done by Nutrition Action magazine (we LOVE Nutrition Action), these restaurants almost never rise above moderately healthy in spite of many fresh and low fat ingredients. The problem is sodium, and even the most innocuous seeming ingredients have been loaded up with it. So much so that it's not uncommon for a standard sized burrito to have more sodium than you need in a day! A recent survey of Chipotle (partially owned by McDonald's), Baja Fresh (Wendy's), Rubio's, and La Salsa scored dismally low for restaurants that throw claims around like "fresh, no lard, no MSG, no microwaves," etc. like they invented them. But like the article stated, "'fresh' doesn't always mean ‘healthy,'" and not one food item scored high enough to make the magazines "best bites" list, which is pretty frightening. The problem was solely sodium, which is found in almost all of the ingredients at all of the restaurants, meaning that you can't even concoct something healthy. As the article stated, the only way to avoid the salt in Fresh Mex is to eat it less often.i
Obesity Still On The Rise!
We know you keep hearing this, but how can it be so? After all, you can't turn on the TV or log-on to the Internet without being bombarded by diet, supplement, and fitness offers all promising to help you achieve "the body you've always wanted."
But according to annual telephone surveys conducted nationwide by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it seems to be having a reverse effect. Americans are getting fatter and the number of morbidly obese individuals has quadrupled since the 80's. Now the number of people who are more than 100 pounds over weight in America is approaching a staggering 4 million!
And it gets even scarier. Another study…
… suggested that the number of people with mild obesity sits at nearly 59 million, which is one out of every three Americans!ii
Years ago rising obesity levels were blamed on changing foods and environmental conditions, but now it seems as though the professionals are stepping up to the plate and are blaming the obvious. They're saying we live in a land were food is plentiful and lifestyles are becoming more and more sedentary. If we want to stop being fat, we need to exercise more and eat healthier. Heck, that's what we've been saying all along!
Low Carb Diets Again Make Headlines
If you tend to log-on at the big three of Internet information: Yahoo, MSN, and AOL, you've probably caught one of the pro low-carb articles. These are based on some recent studies at various institutions that show "low-carb diets working." But before you throw away all those starches in your cupboard, consider that some of these articles are only feeding you part of the information.
Nutrition Action comes to the rescue (again) with more evenly weighted material that covers all of the studies. When you consider how much advertising is placed by various diet companies on the big three (all veritable billboards for Atkins, South Beach, Ediets, etc.), this is hardly surprising. The bottom line is while the results of these studies "surprised"iii some professionals; most were probably less than floored by the results. And some information that wasn't made readily available to the public in the abridged AP article was that the low-carb groups tended to eat less calories than the low calorie group as the diets progressed, a symptom that was suspected to be "food boredom."
Here are a few things to note when reading one of those articles, which are almost certain to make their way into you inbox in some form or another. - We know low-carb diets work well in the short run for body fat loss. Bodybuilders have been doing this for 30+ years.
- Some studies (from the same resources) are left out of the AP wire. One study showed that the low-carb group lost more weight but gained more weight back. The more long-term study showed the low-carb group ate fewer calories over time than the low calorie group did.iv
- While cholesterol levels didn't rise in the low -carb group, they also didn't drop, which they should as weight loss is occurring.
- And one thing that wasn't mentioned at all was that most overweight people tend to eat much worse than they would on a low-carb diet, or ANY diet! So while it might not be the perfect diet, if it keeps someone away from all-you-can-eat at Earl's BBQ, it's still going to be a healthier option. But just because you lose weight and it's healthier than you had previously eaten in no way means that it's a healthy way to eat over the long haul. This is the main problem with low-carb eating, it runs a course that can be useful but is not a sound way to eat once you are healthy and your weight is under control. Even the later stage plans of Atkins, which are greatly modified, warn that the diet isn't safe without major and constant supplementation, which should be a serious consideration. In a balanced diet, you should be able to get enough nutrients from foods. Supplements can still be a great benefit, but they should be to peak your body's performance, not just to survive!
i. Nut. Action, Vol 30, Nm 8: 10 –15: Oct 2003
ii. Study based on measurements because people tend to underestimate their own weight. Heavily muscles athletes tend to fall into this category, but it’s still not going to significantly change the overall number.
iii. "I was very surprised by the results. I thought that the people on Atkins would have lost more weight and gained it all back." – Gary Foster, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
iv. New Eng. J. Med. 348: 2082, 2136, 2003; New Eng. J. Med. 348: 2074, 2003; New Eng. J. Med. 346: 393, 2002
