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Hormone Regulation and Weight Loss

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Losing weight as all about calories in vs calories out……. Or is it? What if your hormones are so out of whack that your appetite, sleep patterns, and blood sugar levels aren’t what they should be as a result of less than optimal hormone production and regulation.  If you eat 1000 kcal every day you will lose weight, then your metabolism will adapt, appetite will increase and your body will become more efficient and burn less calories aka the slowing of your metabolism as it reaches its new setpoint. Each week your body will adapt and fight the extreme calorie deficit.  By understanding how the body works and what activities and/or foods that we eat can affect or hormones we can work with our bodies systems and process rather than fight against them.

The word hormone is derived from the Greek participle ὁρμῶ,”to set in motion, urge on”. Hormones are signaling molecules produced by glands and transported through the blood to target organs in order to regulate our bodies and our behavior.

Amino acid bases hormones like adrenaline and growth hormone generally are water soluble and act on tissues near where they are produced and they act on the surface of the cell.

Steroid based hormones like testosterone and cortisol are fat soluble and they act on the tissues further away form the place it was produced. Steroid based hormones also penetrate the cell wall and act on the nucleus rather than acting on the surface of the cell.

Some hormones act as hormones and neurotransmitters like norepinephrine *see below for more on this

Hormones generally follow this life cycle

  1. Biosynthesis – producing the hormone
  2. Storage and – the pump and storage shed
  3. Transport the shuttle bus
  4. Recognition – Hi there I see you
  5. Relay and amplification -homeostatic negative feedback loop (glucose, pancreas, insulin)
  6. Breakdown of the hormone

Our bodies have no receptors for calories, if we eat 100kcal or pure sugar you will have a different insulin response than if you had 100kcal from olive oil. Calorie in vs calorie out is a physics term, this concept doesn’t necessarily carry over to physiology, this is an over simplification. There are loads of studies that show that calories consumption is the most important variable to consider in weight loss.  Logically if you eat 2000 kcal from mountain dew that that will result in the same weight loss as the same 2000kcal from salmon. The insulin response will be much different and what your body does with those calories will be vastly different.

Our bodies hormonal regulation works on a negative feedback loop. Think of the thermostat in your house, if the thermostat is set to 72 degrees and its summer and hot outside, the thermostat senses it and turns on the AC to bring down the temperature of the house.  If its winter and it’s too cold the thermostat senses that and turns on the heat and brings up the temperature.  When you try and lose weight, your body will sense it and try and make you gain it back to achieve homeostasis and the contrary would occur if you were trying to gain weight. Our bodies are homeostatic regulating machines. If your fat cells swell to certain point the will produced leptin, this signals to our body that we are too fat, in turn appetite decreases. Many obese people are also leptin resistant, causing high concentrations of leptin to float around the blood (much like how people with type2 diabetes high levels of insulin in their blood).  This affects the regulation of leptin and it’s like having a broken thermostat in your body and the negative feedback loop is disrupted.

 

Below I have listed a few of the most powerful hormones produced in our bodies, where they are made, what they affect, and what we can eat and do to manipulate our bodies hormone production and regulation.

Testosterone – produced in testis or ovaries – muscle growth, bone density, strength – Egg yolks, Beef, Tuna, Salmon – these foods contain vitamin D, Cholesterol and Saturated fat all benefit testosterone production, lifting weights also increases testosterone production, adequate sleep also help regulate healthy testosterone levels,

Cortisol – produced in the adrenal cortex -stimulates production of sugar in the liver (gluconeogenesis)- inhibits glucose uptake into muscle and adipose tissue -affects fat breakdown, inflammation and immunity. Alcohol, caffeine, and trans fats can signal the release of cortisol.  A stressful job can cause chronic release of cortisol rather than an acute release that may occur from a temporary and isolated stressful situation, like stumbling upon a rattlesnake on a hiking trail.

Insulin – produced in pancreas – shuttle for other nutrients, bring down blood sugar. Carbohydrates have the greatest impact on insulin and fasting and adhering to a low-carb diet can help create a more stable insulin response

Human Growth Hormone– produced in the pituitary gland, stimulates growth and cell reproduction – in a fasted state our bodies produce more HGH

Oxytocin – produced in pituitary gland – signals the release of breast milk, affects trust, body temperature, activity level and wakefulness.  sharing meals, being affectionate with pets, hugging other people, soaking in a hot bath, giving gifts and meditating are activities that can signal a release of oxytocin.

Prostaglandin – derived from fatty acids – affects vasodilation, blood pressure and in (open up blood vessels. Salmon (omega-3’s), almonds (vitamin E), pineapple, pomegranates can all signal to your body to downregulate prostaglandin and keep levels under control

Norepinephrine– functions as a hormone and a neurotransmitter (brain signaling)- In the brain mobilizes the brain and body for action – released during fight or flight response – low levels during sleep, high levels while awake- increase alertness, memory retrieval and formation, improves attention, increases restlessness and anxiety, reduces blood flow to intestinal tract. Foods rich in the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine such as animal protein, nuts and seeds and dark chocolate due to their high levels of B-vitamins, zinc, and magnesium which can support dopamine and norepinephrine production

 

In the rest of the body – increase heart rate, increase blood pressure, release of glucose from energy stores, increase blood flow to skeletal muscle

Adrenaline/Epinephrine – produced in Adrenal Gland and certain neurons -affects blood pressure, lipolysis (fat burning), increase blood flow, increase heart output, pupil dilation and increased blood sugar, too much caffeine can signal over production and release of adrenaline

Leptin – produced in fat stores – decrease appetite, increase metabolism, a high carb/fat meal aka a re-feed meal can cause a favorable release of Leptin and this can help break through fat loss plateaus, controlling insulin can have favorable effects on leptin concentrations in our blood.

Ghrelin – produced in the intestines – stimulates appetite – causes pituitary gland to secrete growth hormone

Melatonin– produced in pineal gland -affects sleep and circadian rhythms, cherries or cherry juice not from concentrate contains moderate levels of melatonin and can therefore promote better sleep and help regulate heathy circadian rhythms

Vitamin D aka cholecalciferol – affects calcium absorption, mood, immunity and depression – egg yolks and fortified foods are great sources of vitamin D, also getting enough exposure to sunlight is essential for your body to produce enough vitamin D

T3(thyroid hormone)- produced in thyroid – affects metabolism – small amounts of fructose can stimulate the liver an and help with the conversion of thyroid hormone, getting enough iodine is important for thyroid health, cranberries or cranberry juice not form concentrate is an excellent source of iodine

Amylin– produced in pancreas – slows down digestion, reduces appetite – amylin is used in diabetes management due to its ability to reduce appetite and slow down digestion

Glucagon – produced in pancreas – raises blood sugar and blood fat works in opposition to insulin- main catabolic hormone (muscle wasting) – if blood sugar drops too low, pancreas secretes glucagon and this signals the liver to engage in gluconeogenesis (production of glucose from protein), exercising and fasting can signal the release of glucagon causing our liver to release glucose for fuel

Estrogen – produced in testis or ovaries – affects water retention – excessive intake of soy may have an impact on estrogen levels due to their Phyto estrogenic nature

 

Hormones affect the following process in the human body

 

This is an introduction to our endocrine and hormonal systems of our bodies, in future articles I will highlight one hormone at a time and go more in depth into how we can optimize production and regulation in an attempt to be healthier overall. The goal of this article is to get people thinking outside of the box when in comes to health and weight loss as well as to educate people about our bodies in an attempt to take control of our own health and our bodies, we only get one, its up to us to understand it and take care of it. Controlling your carbohydrates, exercising, and eating specific foods can have a profound impact on our hormone levels and in turn our weight loss and overall health.

Knowledge is power and Ignorance is not bliss.

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Learn more about Better U today @ www.betterUtoday.com … Local or remote, Better U Today can you help you achieve your ideal weight quickly!

Sleep Apnea

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Changing your lifestyle and losing weight can help make sleep apnea a thing of the past.

Do you wake up feeling tired? Have brain fog during the day? Does your significant other complain about your snoring? You could have Sleep Apnea; the good news is by changing your lifestyle and losing weight these symptoms can become a thing of the past.

Obstructive sleep apnea increases the risk of heart failure by 140%, the risk of stroke by 60%, and the risk of coronary heart disease by 30%.

What is it?

Sleep Apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.

What are the side effects?

  • High blood pressure
  • Stroke
  • Heart failure, irregular heart-beats, and heart attacks
  • Diabetes
  • Depression
  • Worsening of ADHD
  • Headaches
  • Swollen legs, shortness of breath
  • Daytime fatigue
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Metabolic syndrome
  • Liver problems
  • Increase in all-cause mortality
  • Suppresses the immune system
  • Waking up feeling tired
  • Brain fog

Not only can sleep apnea kill you, it can absolutely destroy your quality of life.

By maintaining a healthy weight, sleep apnea and other obesity-related disorders can be potentially avoided completely. By losing 5-10% (that’s 10-20lbs for a 200lb person) of your bodyweight you can reduce the severity of sleep apnea.

Lifestyle changes are effective ways of reducing symptoms of Sleep Apnea. Here are some tips that may help reduce Apnea severity:

  1. Lose weight
    1.  If you are overweight, this is the most important action you can take to cure your sleep apnea
  2. Set a regular sleep schedule
    1.  Allow for at least 8 hours of sleep each night
  3. Be aware of your Circadian rhythms
    1. Daylight acts as a trigger for circadian rhythms
      1. expose you skin to sunlight soon after waking
      1. avoid light exposure 1 hour before bed
  4. Avoid alcohol
    1. it disrupts your natural sleep cycle, and makes the upper airway breathing muscles relax.
  5. Quit smoking. 
    1. Cigarette smoking worsens swelling in the upper airway, making apnea (and snoring) worse.
  6. Try sleeping on your side
    1. Some patients with mild sleep apnea or heavy snoring have fewer breathing problems when they are lying on their sides instead of their backs.

How does being overweight impact Sleep Apnea?

Excess body weight contributes to sleep apnea by causing increased pressure on upper airways.

Neck circumference greater than 17 inches for men and 16 inches for women raise the risk of both obesity and sleep apnea.

Waist measurements equal to or greater than 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women also raise the risk factor.

Sleep Apnea is associated with increased neck girth, have you ever noticed that when you lose weight you notice it in your face and neck first, that is because your neck girth is decreasing as your body metabolizes fat. The increased neck girth causes crowding of the air passage to the lungs. As your neck girth decreases you likely will see improvements in sleep apnea and snoring.

Sleep affects how your body uses calories and how your body uses energy to perform work.

When you get less sleep quality your body releases a hormone called ghrelin, which increase appetite and decrease metabolic rate, a dieter’s worst nightmare.

Sleep Apnea can be drastically improved by losing weight and being mindful of your sleeping habits and circadian rhythms. Start your weight loss journey today and start to look and feel better as you improve your overall health and well being.

Learn more about Better U today @ www.betterUtoday.com … Local or remote, Better U Today can you help you achieve your ideal weight quickly! Get Started Today here.

Too Little Salt Is Bad For You?

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Don’t add too much salt to your food, its bad for you.  Everyone knows this right? Or have we all been misled?

When on a salt restricted diet, the body will use insulin as a tool for preserving and using the sodium it does have. Below I give an overview of a few studies that support the notion that low salt diets can have a negative impact on insulin sensitivity and early death.

In one single-blind crossover trial done on 147 non-obese normotensive subjects aged 19-78 years were randomly assigned to a low salt diet of 20mmol or a high salt diet of 300mmol sodium per day for 7 days each. With dietary salt restriction, serum total- and LDL-cholesterol as well as serum insulin and uric acid concentrations increased significantly. Short-term sodium restriction in normotensive (normal blood pressure) adults had unfavorable effects on lipid and glucose metabolism.

Further studies are needed to determine the effects of more moderate salt reduction for longer periods on the risk factor profile for cardiovascular disease before a low salt diet can be regarded as a safe public health measure for the general population (Ruppert et al. 1991).

Another study looked at a low sat diet and its effect on insulin resistance.  151 healthy individuals were studied after 7 days of a low sat diet (urine sodium <20mmol/day) and 7 days of a high salt diet in a random order.  Insulin resistance was measured after each diet and compared statistically.  Subjects were 39+/-12.5 years, BMI 25.3+/-4.0kg/m2.  HOMA = (plasma glucose (mmol/L)×plasma insulin (µU/mL))/22.5 was used to measure insulin sensitivity. Mean HOMA was significantly higher in the low salt group (2.8 +/- 1.6 vs 2.4 +/-1.7:P<0.01), the low salt group became more insulin resistant than the high salt group.

Aldosterone and norepinephrine were also elevated which may contribute to an increase in insulin resistance on a low salt diet. Angiotensin II levels were also higher on a low salt diet which has been shown interfere in insulin signaling pathways (Garg et al. 2010).

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine studied the sodium levels of 101,945 people from 17 countries.  The scientists examined the association between sodium excretion and the outcome of death and major cardiovascular events over a mean follow up of 3.7 years.  Sodium excretion correlates directly with sodium ingestion.

Authors found that participants with the lowest sodium excretion (less than 3 grams of sodium per day or ½ teaspoon of salt) had the highest rate of death or cardiovascular events – 4.3%.

Participants who excreted 3-4 grams per day (just over ½ teaspoon of salt) had cardiovascular incident rate 28% lower than the lowest salt-ingesting group.

Participants who ingested the most sodium (>7g per day or over 1 teaspoon of salt) had a 24% lower death or cardiovascular group when compared to the lowest group (O’donnell et at. 2014).

Too low of sodium intake may prove to be associated with insulin resistance, elevated triglycerides and cholesterol, increased rate of death or cardiovascular events.  4.5g/day of sodium ~ 5 teaspoons of pink Himalayan sea salt is a good ballpark to be in if you want to avoid the negative effects of a salt restricted diet. If you are an athlete, who trains intensely and sweats a lot, you will want to consume more salt to replace what is lost during exercise.

If you are consuming a low sodium diet and increase your sodium intake you will likely see a temporary increase in water retention and weight gain, your body will acclimate to the increased sodium intake over time.  One could also gradually increase sodium intake overtime to avoid the temporary water retention and weight gain that can occur from rapid sodium increases.

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Learn more about Better U today @ www.betterUtoday.com … Local or remote, Better U Today can you help you achieve your ideal weight quickly! Get Started Today here.

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Garg, R., Williams, G. H., Hurwitz, S., Brown, N. J., Hopkins, P. N., & Adler, G. K. (2011). Low Salt Diet Increases Insulin Resistance in Healthy Subjects. Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental, 60(7), 965–968. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2010.09.005

O’Donnell, M., Mente, A., Mente, S., McQueen, M., Wang, X., Liu, L., . . . Yusuf, S. (2014). Urinary sodium and potassium excretion, mortality, and cardiovascular events. [Abstract]. N Engl J Med, 25(371), 1267th ser., 612-623. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1311889

Ruppert, M., Diehl, J., Kolloch, R., Overlack, A., Kraft, K., Gobel, B., . . . Stumpke, K. (1991). Short-term dietary sodium restriction increases serum lipids and insulin in salt-sensitive and salt-resistant normotensive adults. [Abstract]. Klin Wochenschr., 69(1991), 25th ser. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1921253.

Top 10 Things You Can Do TODAY To Start Burning Fat and Lose Weight

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We get asked this a lot, so we compiled the Top 10 things you can do today to start burning fat and to lose weight:

#1 – Set SMART Goals

S – Specific

The worst-case scenario is that you have no goal whatsoever, how can you get where your going if you don’t know your destination? The next worst-case scenario is your goal is too vague.  Instead of you goal being to lose weight, a better goal would be I want to lose 10-lbs of body fat over the next 5 weeks while preserving my lean body mass as much as possible.  The more specific the goal the better.

M – Measurable

It is important to chose a goal that is measurable, weight, body fat mass, body fat percentage are all great subjective goals that can be easily measured.  The end goal for most people is to look good, feel good, and be healthy, but those are more objective measures that are more difficult to measure accurately and consistently.

A – Attainable

You can shoot for the stars and land on the moon, or you can shoot for the moon and once you get there re-evaluate and get a plan for how you can get to the stars.  It is likely that you may have to use different methods or technology to get you to the stars, then what you used to get to the moon. Once you achieve an attainable goal, you can set a new one and use the experience and momentum from the success of the previous achievement.

R – Realistic

Too often people set goals that are unrealistic and they are truly setting themselves up for failure.  Working with a health professional can be a great way to make sure that the goals you are setting are realistic and attainable

T – Timely

Putting a date on a goal gives it a back stop, without a specific date that you want to achieve your goal, it is easy to procrastinate and create excuses to not start exercising and eating healthy.  Each day becomes an opportunity to make progress towards your goal.

#2 – Have a sound plan to achieve your goal

If you goal is to lose 10-lbs of fat over the next 5 weeks while preserving lean body mass, and your plan involves a low protein diet and lots of cardio with no strength training this is recipe for failure.  You may very well lose weight but much of that weight will likely be muscle.  Muscle being the greatest contributor to metabolism, it is easy to see how losing muscle puts you in a position to gain all the weight back with your newly slowed metabolism as a result of mismatch between goals and an appropriate plan to action.

A more fundamentally sound plan would include some strength training and enough protein to preserve muscle mass and metabolism.  Your metabolism in base off of your hormone levels, activity levels and how active and healthy your muscle, brain, and liver are.  About 50% of the calories you burn come from skeletal muscle, about 30% comes from brain activity and about 20% comes from liver.  For fast burning metabolism, have lots of muscle, use your brain a lot and don’t over drink.

#3 – Adhere to your specific diet and exercise plan

This is where many people go wrong, they have a great goal and sound plan to get there, yet they fail to adhere to their program.  The key to adhering to a program is making sure that it is sustainable and realistic for your lifestyle. What is the best diet? The one that you will follow. What is the best exercise program? The one that you will do.  Too many people dive into a program hard at the beginning and slowly stray from it as time goes on. A better strategy would be to start slow and make gradual changes overtime.

This approach will be less of a shock and stress to your system and will be easier to adhere to a program that gradually changes overtime rather than drastic calorie and exercise fluctuations that send your bodies stress hormones like cortisol into a frenzy.

#4 – Stop making excuses

It is easy to blame genetics, thyroid, or a slow metabolism on why you are not where you want to be physically.  It’s not your Doctor, significant other, or parents fault that you are overweight.  You put that “food” in your mouth and sat on that couch every night for years when you could have made better food choices and simply make walking a part of your daily routine.

#5 – Take responsibility for your health and your current situation

Do some research or seek out a health and wellness professional that can educate you and help you strategize and keep you on track making continual progress.

If you simply get a plan that is realistic to follow, take it one meal at a time, one exercise session at a time and do the simple things consistently your will begin to see steady progress.  Only you can decide to make a change and have the self-control and discipline to stick to a program. Don’t over complicate things, simply execute the plan and the results will provide you with motivation to keep going.  Making progress is the best way to stay motivated.

#6 – Get a workout partner

Accountability is the key here.  If you know your friend is going to be waiting for you at the gym it makes it easier to get there since you don’t want to let them down and you know they might give you a hard time if you bail out. It also makes exercise safer because your workout partner can spot you on exercises and challenge you to push harder than if you were by yourself.

You don’t need a gym to lose weight and to get healthy, but it makes things a whole lot easier.  It is possible to do body weight exercises with minimal equipment and there are plenty of different forms of cardio that can be done without a gym membership, but what about on those rainy days that you don’t feel like getting soaked, or those cold mornings that make it hard to get out of bed.  Imagine if you know you have a nice hot sauna or hot tub waiting for you at the end of your workout.

Seeing other people exercise may be motivating and encourage you to keep going, for example you may see someone one the treadmill next to you really going hard and sweating and you realize your moseying along, this may be enough for you to push up on that up arrow on the treadmill and challenge yourself a little more.

Be careful not to compare yourself negatively to others at the gym, focus on improving yourself and use others to inspire and motivate you, rather and compare yourself to the fit people in the gym and feel bad about yourself. It’s about creating the healthiest and happiest version of yourself.

#7 – Drink less alcohol

When you are drunk your body is no longer burning fat for fuel, your liver puts processing the alcohol as the number one priority and fat loss takes the back burner.  A few drinks here and there for celebrations and special occasions can be healthy and not deter you from your goals, however moderation is the key here.

#8 – Visualize your success

Visualizing yourself at your goal weight can be one of the most powerful things you can do to get inspired and motivated to achieve your goals. Close your eyes picture yourself 30 lbs. lighter, looking great in a swimming suit on the beach.  Now picture yourself as you are now in that same suit.  Does that motivate you to want to eat better and exercise more?

Be conscious of your self-talk, some of the best athletes I have ever worked with were self-talking positivity machines. While I was a strength coach for the women’s gymnastics team in college I noticed that the top performing athletes on the team were constantly talking themselves through things.  “Ok, here we go, you’ve got this, focus…” these are the affirmations I heard these top-level athletes reciting over and over.  We can learn from these athletes and be mindful of the self-talk that we use.  Now you may be saying, “I can’t seem to lose this weight”, or “I’ve lost over 100 lbs. the same 10lbs over and over again”.

A better way to condition your mind to achieve success would be to say, “I have struggled to lose weight in the past, but I’ve learned a lot since then and I’m confident that if I apply what I have learned that the weight will begin to come off”.  You don’t need to say “I’m skinny, I’m skinny, I’m skinny” and you open your eyes and the fat is gone, however you need to have belief in what you are doing if you want to see results.

#9 – 10-minute walks

Controlling blood sugar is critical controlling weight as well as for reducing risk of heart disease and other complications related to diabetes.  Researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand studied adults with diabetes, one group walked for 30 minutes each day in one single bout, and the other group took three 10-minute walks within five minutes of finishing their meals.  Participants who too short bursts of exercise after eating demonstrated blood sugar levels 12% lower than those who walked 30 minutes at one time. The 10-minute walk in the evening had the most profound improvements in blood sugar dropping 22% lower than the group who did 30 minutes at one time.  We don’t all have time to drive to the gym, do 30 minutes on the elliptical, shower and drive back home, before you know it an hour of your day is gone.

But we can all set a timer on our phone, walk 5 minutes after lunch and turn around and head back when the timer goes off.  Do you feel as if you don’t have 10 minutes to spare. What if your life depended on it? What if simply walking 10 minutes three times per day could help you live a longer healthier life, and you may even grow old enough to walk you daughter walk down the isle at her wedding or see you grandchildren grow up.

Get off you butt, and make this part of your daily routine, you won’t regret it. “I really regret going for that 10-minute walk after dinner tonight” said, NO ONE EVER.

This good habit will be hard to break once you feel how much energy you have throughout your day as a result of more stable blood sugar levels.

#10 – Reduce your Carbohydrates

When you reduce your carbohydrates, you are depleting your muscle and liver glycogen stores.  This is where your body stores its primary fuel source (carbohydrates).  Think of your body as a car with a reserve tank, your glycogen stores are your gas tank and your body fat is your reserve tank. You need to empty the gas tank/glycogen stores in order to tap into the fat stores/reserve tank.  The best way to deplete your muscle glycogen is to reduce carbohydrate consumption combined with exercise.

Another reason reducing carbohydrates helps you burn more fat and lose more weight is because our bodies are so amazing that we all can literally produce glucose from protein molecules via gluconeogenesis, a process which occurs in your liver.  This process is quite inefficient, which works in favor of someone trying to lose weight since this process burns and extra ~500kcal per day/3,500kcal per week = 1 lb. of extra fat loss each week.

When you reduce carbohydrates it’s important to get enough protein, you have to get your calories from somewhere.  Protein has the highest satiety rating, aka makes you feel more full than carbs or fat.  When you are more full, you are less likely to overeat or make poor food choices.

Thermic effect of food is the increase in the body’s metabolic rate that is produced by the consumption, digestion, metabolism, and storage of food.  Protein has the highest thermic effect of food, this causes us to burn more calories each day and lose more weight at fat.

It’s important to control calories, but weight loss is also a hormonal game.  When we reduce carbohydrate consumption, we are controlling our blood sugar and insulin levels.  Insulin is the storage hormone so the more we can keep it under control the less fat we will store as a result.  When we eat protein and fat, this will also cause our pancreas to release small amounts of insulin, it is just to a lesser degree than when we consume carbohydrates.

At the end of the day if we set great health related goals, have a good plan to achieve those goals, adhere to the plan, take responsibility for our health, get a workout partner, drink less alcohol, visualize your future success, walk more and be mindful of our carbohydrate consumption we will be on the right path in discovering the healthier and happier version of ourselves.

By putting your health first, it will put you in a position to be able to help others as well.  It can be hard to help others if you mind and body aren’t operating efficiently and effectively.  Take control of your own health and make these small changes today and start feeling better immediately.

At Better U Today, we can help with food, coaching and guidance to help you reach your ideal weight. Get in touch today!

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Learn more about Better U today @ www.betterUtoday.com … Local or remote, Better U Today can you help you achieve your ideal weight quickly! Get Started Here.

How the Sugar Industry Put the Blame on Fat

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Facts versus Reality Look

We all have been told to go easy on the butter, and not to eat to many eggs or red meat because of the saturate fat or cholesterol. Now, I’m not saying to eat a stick of butter, a dozen eggs and 2lbs of steak every day. However, I do believe in all things in moderation, but this doesn’t mean that these animal products need to be eliminated from a diet completely in order to be healthy.

Sugar, Better U Today, Healthy

I also believe that the negative effects of sugar have been grossly hidden from the public eye. The negative impact that nutrient rich foods like grass-fed butter, cage-free eggs and grass-fed beef have been unfairly demonized throughout the years in order to make a few people’s pocket books fat, at the expense of our nation’s health and well-being.

Historical documents show that the sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat and cholesterol as the culprit instead.  The sugar industry documents discovered by a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, and published JAMA Internal Medicine, suggest that fifty years of research into the role of nutrition and heart disease may have been largely shaped by the sugar industry.  The findings of this research have even shaped many of today’s dietary recommendations.

The documents discovered by the University of California researcher, show that a group called the Sugar Research Foundation, known today as the Sugar Association, paid three Harvard scientists $6,500, which today would be equivalent to $49,000, to publish a 1967 review of research on fat, sugar and heart disease. The studies selected in the review were strategically, and immorally handpicked by the sugar group. This article, which minimized the link between sugar and heart disease, and put the blame on saturated fat was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2016.

The Sugar Research foundation sponsored its first Coronary Heart Disease research project in 1965, a literature review published in the New England Journal of Medicine, singled out fat and cholesterol as the dietary causes of Coronary Heart Disease and downplayed evidence that sugar consumption was also a risk factor. The Sugar Research Foundation set the review of literature’s objective, contributed articles for inclusion, and received drafts. The Sugar Research Foundation’s funding and role was NOT disclosed in this research. In other words, the Sugar Research Foundation funded the research, strategically selected studies that would demonize fat and cholesterol rather than sugar as contributors to Heart Disease, then thought it would be a good idea to not let people know that they were funding the biased research, hiding their clear conflict of interests.

Funding from the food industry is not uncommon in scientific research. However, studies suggest that the funds tend to bias findings. An analysis of beverage studies, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, found that those studies funded by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, the American Beverage Association and the sugar industry were five times more likely to find no link between sugary beverages and weight gain than studies whose authors reported no financial conflicts.

Additional info can be found here from the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Call Better U Today at 1-833-4-U-TODAY to set up a complimentary consultation with one of your expert health coaches and start improving your health and changing your life today. Start your journey today here!

Making a Behavior Change For Weight Loss Success

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Losing weight is simple right? Just move more and eat less, sounds simple enough.  It is that simple, but if it were that easy 69% of Americans wouldn’t be overweight. Unfortunately, the SAD (standard American diet) style of eating coupled with a sedentary lifestyle has caused our nation to become embarrassingly overweight and unhealthy.

Losing Weight With Better U Today

Imagine 2 people, one thinks short term and the other thinks long term.  The two people want to see the view of the mountains better.  They both get the idea to walk up the stairs of a building to get a better view.  Person #1 walks up one flight of stairs, gets a little winded, feels their legs burning and stops at the 1st floor to see the view.  The view is ok and it didn’t take that much work.

Person #2 knows that if she gets to the top floor that the view will be breathtaking.  Person #2 doesn’t mind the burning in her legs as she climbs or the heavy breathing, because she knows that when she gets to the top of the 20 floors it will all be worth it, and she isn’t bothered by the pain and suffering.  All she can think about is how great that view is going to be, she even picks up her pace as she gets closer.

Most people are like person 1 putting in a little effort to have a little bit of joy. The really successful people in this life are more like person #2 as they view life through a different lens and with a unique perspective.

 If you ask person #1 about their experience they may say,” it sucked, I hate sweating and the view wasn’t even that great.”

Person #2 may say, “that view was awesome, but I wonder how the view looks from that taller building over there”, not even noticing the pain associated with climbing the stairs because they are focused on the long-term reward rather than short term pain needed to get there.

Let’s all be like person #2 and make the short-term sacrifices needed to achieve long term success and happiness.

I hear a lot of people saying things like, “I’m just not motivated to lose weight”.  I believe that it is less about being motivated and more about just not executing the tasks necessary to achieve the end result.

Losing weight is more about cooking, grocery shopping, doing dishes, planning meals, and tracking your calories and weight.

Too many people get caught up in trying to find some magical diet, pill or workout instead of focusing on the behaviors that will get them closer to their goals.

Many people expect results too fast, and underestimate the amount of hard work and consistency it really takes to make a behavior change and improve their health.

I like to take on the way of thinking that most people are doing the best they can with the knowledge they have.  Many people just aren’t sure who to trust when it comes to health, exercise and nutrition.  The government regulations say to eat your whole grains, your friend from work says going keto is they way to go and your sister is convinced that the vegan lifestyle is the best path for success.  Not to mention your co worker who praises CrossFit and paleo, or your cousin who says to just track your macros on an app and do some flexible dieting. 

Who do we believe? Logic and reasoning can go a long way but it is important to note that some things are counter intuitive and may not make sense logically, yet scientific studies have opened our eyes to the truth. 

If someone is giving your health advise a healthy balance of it making logical sense amd having some scientific evidence backing it. Then give it a try and see if it works for you.  You will never know if something really works if you don’t give it an honest try. 

I try not to get pulled to far into one side of an issue, I believe that the best situation is somewhere in between all the different approaches, aka the golden mean.  Much like life, losing weight is a lot about making the right decisions over and over again.

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Here are some main focal points that I think we can all benefit from focusing on to improve health and be at healthy weight and body composition.

  • Understand that the number one thing you can do to lose weight is to be in a calorie deficit
    • This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to track your calories, but if you do track your calories accurately this will greatly improve your chances of success
      • Once you have tracked your calories for months or years you will learn to eyeball things and estimate and you will intuitively know how much to eat.
  • Move your body
    • You can undoubtably lose weight without exercise, but your diet will be very low in calories and all though you will make progress first, adding exercise to your routine will help you continue to lose weight and eat more food while still losing weight.
  •  Weigh yourself regularly
    • You don’t want to develop an unhealthy relationship with the scale but you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
      • Weight is an easy thing to measure and all though measuring bodyfat or blood work may give you more insight into how your body is really changing. As your weight goes down it is likely that your bodyfat will go down and your blood work will likely improve as well.
  • Set some short- and long-term goals
    1. Focus on the daily tasks that will help you achieve your short-term goals
      • Example: rather than focusing on how bad you want to lose 20 lbs, focus on the tasks of eating what you planned to eat and getting your 30 minutes of exercise each day.
        • Hitting these checkpoints consistently will lead to achieving your short term and eventually long-term goals
    2. Long term goal – lose 20 lbs in 10 weeks
    3. Short term goal – lose 2 lbs per week                                        
      • Tasks – eat 1500kcal/day + 30 minutes of brisk walking

Often times we think too short term rather than long term.  Sure, this salmon and broccoli doesn’t taste as good as chic filet, and going for a walk isn’t as fun as vegetating on the couch watching the bachelor.  Sometimes you just have to do the thing that you don’t want to do in the moment knowing that it will pay off down the road. 

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