Young People Who Sleep Less Have More Risk Of Being Overweight

Young people who sleep less may be more likely to be overweight, especially if they spend less time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, according to a report released on August 4, 2008 in Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The obesity epidemic in the United States is well recognized, and has been occurring even in children. According to the background information in the article, the obesity rate in children between 6 and 11 years old has more than tripled in the last 30 years, and about 17% of the adolescents in the population are classified as obese or overweight presently. Obesity is generally caused by an uneven caloric intake and energy use balance, but there are many factors that could potentially affect obesity that are not well understood. Previously, an association has been suggested between fewer hours of sleep and a higher body mass index (BMI) in both adults and children.

To investigate this relationship in children, Xianchen Liu, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and colleagues studied a total 335 children between the ages of 7 and 17 years. The subjects were observed using polysomnography for three nights in a row. Once sleep time, time spent in REM sleep, the time it took to fall asleep and other variables were observed, they were compared to a BMI calculation made using weight and height.

The researchers found that 14.6% of participants (49 youths) were at risk for becoming overweight, while 13.4% (45 youths) were already overweight. Comparing these children with those who had normal weights, the higher weight children slept approximately 22 fewer minutes per night. Additionally, their sleep efficiency, defined as the percentage of time that the subject remained asleep, was lower, their REM sleep time was shorter, they had less REM activity even in REM sleep, and took longer to reach their first REM sleep periods.

In all, one hour less of total sleep was associated with twice the risk of being overweight. Having one hour less of REM sleep was associated with three times the risk.


The authors note that there are many possible explanations for this association: "Although the precise mechanisms are currently under investigation, the association between short sleep duration and overweight may be attributed to the interaction of behavioral and biological changes as a result of sleep deprivation." For one, hormone levels may fluctuate differently when someone experiences loss of sleep, which could affect hunger. Additionally, the fatigue associated with sleep loss could lead to fatigue which reduces the amount of exercise experienced, thereby reducing the energy expenditure of the person.

The authors conclude that by improving sleep in this age group, some of the obesity experienced in this age group might be mitigated. "Given the fact that the prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents continues to increase and chronic sleep insufficiency becomes more prevalent in modern society, family- and school-based sleep interventions that aim to enhance sleep hygiene and increase sleep duration may have important public health implications for the prevention and intervention of obesity and type 2 diabetes in children," they say. "Furthermore, our results demonstrate an important relationship between REM sleep and high BMI and obesity, suggesting that the short sleep"obesity association may be attributed to reduced REM sleep time and decreased activity during REM sleep."



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Eating Eggs Boosts A Healthy Weight Loss Plan

A study published online in the International Journal of Obesity shows that eating two eggs for breakfast, as part of a reduced-calorie diet, helps overweight adults lose more weight and feel more energetic than those who eat a bagel breakfast of equal calories. [1] This study supports previous research, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, which showed that people who ate eggs for breakfast felt more satisfied and ate fewer calories at the following meal. [2]

"People have a hard time adhering to diets and our research shows that choosing eggs for breakfast can dramatically improve the success of a weight loss plan," said Nikhil V. Dhurandhar, Ph.D., lead researcher and associate professor in the laboratory of infection and obesity at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, a campus of the Louisiana State University system. "Apparently, the increased satiety and energy due to eggs helps people better comply with a reduced-calorie diet."

Significant Weight Loss Related to Egg Breakfast

Compared to the subjects who ate a bagel breakfast, men and women who consumed two eggs for breakfast as part of a reduced-calorie diet:

- lost 65 percent more weight
- exhibited a 61 percent greater reduction in BMI
- reported higher energy levels than their dieting counterparts who consumed a bagel breakfast [1]

The egg and bagel breakfasts provided the same number of calories and had identical weights (energy density), which is an important control factor in satiety and weight loss studies.

The researchers also found that blood lipids were not impacted during the two month study. They found that blood levels of HDL and LDL cholesterol, as well as triglycerides, did not vary compared to baseline cholesterol blood levels in subjects who ate either the bagel or egg breakfasts. These findings add to more than 30 years of research that conclude that healthy adults can enjoy eggs without significantly impacting their risk of heart disease.

New Emphasis on the Importance of High-Quality Protein

This study adds to the growing body of research which supports the importance of high-quality protein in the diet. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) published a special issue in May 2008, which contains nine articles that focus on the value of high-quality protein in the American diet. A major finding was that not getting enough high-quality protein may contribute to obesity, muscle wasting (loss) and increased risk of chronic disease. [3,4]

Jump Start the Morning with Eggs

Jackie Newgent, registered dietitian and chef, stresses the importance of obtaining adequate high-quality protein when advising consumers about weight loss. "Eggs are a good source of all-natural, high-quality protein, so they can help keep you satisfied longer, making it easier to resist tempting snacks," said Newgent. "Nearly half of an egg's protein, and many of the other nutrients, are found in the yolk, so make sure to eat the whole egg for maximum benefits."

Newgent suggests these nutrition tips for a successful weight loss plan:

- Manic Monday: Make a batch of hard-cooked eggs on Sunday, so you'll have all-natural, high-quality protein meals for your on-the-go schedule during the week. Plus, eggs are incredibly affordable. At an average of $1.93 per dozen (or $0.16 per egg), [5] eggs are one of the most affordable high-quality protein foods in the marketplace.

- In-a-Minute Morning Meal: In less than 60 seconds, you can prepare an egg breakfast to help jump start your day. Simply beat one whole egg in a microwave-safe mug then cook in the microwave oven on high for 60 seconds. Slide the egg onto a whole grain English muffin. Add flavor with a sprinkling of fresh herbs, salsa, or cheese. Serve fresh seasonal fruit slices, like peaches in the summer, on the side for a balanced meal.


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Scientists Identify Another Piece Of The Weight-Control Puzzle - Research Finds Role For GABA Neurotransmitter In Maintaining Energy Balance

Controlling body weight is a complicated process, as any frustrated dieter might attest. But as scientists continue to investigate the brain's intricate neurocircuitry and its role in maintaining energy balance, they are forming a clearer picture of the myriad events that lead to weight gain and weight loss.

In the August 10 on-line issue of Nature Neuroscience, a study led by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) identifies another piece of this complex puzzle, demonstrating that the neurotransmitter GABA --one of the master communicators among neurons - plays a role in controlling energy balance.

"Body weight maintenance is made up of three basic stages," explains the paper's senior author Bradford Lowell, MD, PhD, an investigator in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at BIDMC whose laboratory is working to identify the specific neurocircuits responsible for controlling food intake and/or energy through functional neuroanatomical mapping studies.

"In the first stage, the brain receives sensory input from the body [including information provided by circulating hormones such as leptin and ghrelin and from fuels such as glucose and fatty acids]," says Lowell, who is also a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

In the second stage, he adds, the brain integrates this sensory information with cues it has received from the environment (such as aromas and other enticements) along with information gathered from the organism's emotional state. Then, in the final stage, the brain's neurocircuitry takes over, enabling the brain to make appropriate alterations in food intake and energy expenditure in order to maintain energy balance - and prevent weight gain and obesity.

Previous work had primarily focused on identifying the neuropeptides involved in this process. And indeed, this group of neurotransmitters often proves essential to maintaining energy balance - but not always.

"It is well known that AgRP [Agouti-related protein] neurons play a critical role in feeding and energy balance regulation," explains Qingchun Tong, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Lowell laboratory and the study's first author. "However, the deletion of AgRP and NPY [two neuropeptides released from the AgRP neurons] produces little metabolic effect."

An alternate theory proposed that release of the GABA neurotransmitter was mediating the function of AgRP neurons, an idea that had long been postulated but never examined.

To test this hypothesis, Tong and his colleagues generated a group of mice with disrupted release of GABA specifically from the AgRP neurons. As predicted, the genetically altered mice exhibited profound metabolic changes.

"The mice with AgRP neuron-specific disruption of GABA release were lean, had higher energy expenditure and showed resistance to diet-induced obesity," says Tong. "We also found that these animals showed reduced food intake response to the hormone ghrelin. This suggests to us that the neurocircuit engaging GABA release from the AgRP neurons mediates at least part of ghrelin's appetite-stimulating action."

A series of studies to examine the function of glutamate and GABA release from other groups of neurons are currently underway as investigators continue to dissect the brain's neurocircuitry.

"As these new findings demonstrate, GABA release is an important component that mediates the function of AgRP neurons," says Tong. "Discoveries such as this will ultimately help us to design an efficient strategy to tackle the current epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease."

This work was funded, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health and support from the North American Association for the Study of Obesity.

In addition to Lowell and Tong, coauthors include BIDMC investigators Chian-Ping Ye and Juli Jones and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center investigator Joel Elmquist.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research facility of Harvard Medical School and consistently ranks among the top four in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit http://www.bidmc.harvard.edu.


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5 Tips to Get a Flat Stomach

• Did you you know that crunches and situps actually do NOT flatten your abs effectively?
• Did you know that there is a specific type of exercise that burns belly fat faster than cardio?
• Did you know that certain foods such as soy proteins, "diet" drinks, and others can actually increase your stomach fat?

More details in the article below.

5 Facts You MUST Understand if You Are Ever Going to Lose Your Belly Fat & Get Six Pack Abs
1. Many so-called "health foods" are actually cleverly disguised junk foods that actually stimulate you to gain more belly fat... yet the diet food marketing industry continues to lie to you so they can maximize their profits.

2. Ab exercises like crunches, sit-ups, and ab machines are the LEAST effective method of getting flat six pack abs. We'll explore what types of exercises REALLY work in a minute.

3. Boring repetitive cardio exercise routines are NOT the best way to lose body fat and uncover those six pack abs. I'll show you the exact types of unique workouts that produce 10x better results below.

4. You DON'T need to waste your money on expensive "extreme fat burner" pills (that don't work) or other bogus supplements. A special class of natural foods is much more effective. I'll tell you about these natural foods and their powers below.

5. Ab belts, ab-rockers, ab-loungers, and other infomercial ab-gimmicks... they're all a complete waste of your time and money. Despite the misleading infomercials, the perfectly chiseled fitness models in the commercials did NOT get their perfect body by using that "ab contraption"... they got their perfect body through REAL workouts and REAL nutrition strategies.

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The Best Way To Lose Fat

How To Lose Fat NOW:
A Basic Fat-Loss Program That You Can Put To Work Today!

As we age our metabolism slows and we also don't do as much exercise as we did when younger. The best way to keep our youthful size is to eat healthily and in moderation and keep up the exercise.

So you want to drop some fat but you're not sure of what the best way is to get started? Here's a short guide that will get you moving in the right direction... an exact training program (done 3 times per week) covering weights and cardio, as well as what to eat, how much to eat, and what supplements you need and don't need.

Let's get right to it!



STEP 1 - FOOD QUALITY
For fat loss, WHAT you're eating is just as important as HOW MUCH you're eating. Think of it it way...you can lose weight eating ONLY 1000 calories worth of chocolate pudding every day...but how do you think you're going to feel eating nothing but chocolate pudding!

It's VERY important to eat good quality, nutritious food when you're trying to lose fat. Your body needs nutrients to function. Without good nutrition, your body will react in two ways: first, it will shut down your metabolism to try and conserve nutrients. Second, it will set off RAGING cravings to try and get you to eat more nutrients!

Focus on unprocessed foods, as close to their natural state as possible. Unprocessed foods are more nutritious and easier for your body to digest and work with. This simple change can make a big difference to your fat-loss efforts.

Here's the deal...contrary to popular thought, a calorie is NOT a calorie. The popular scientific consensus used to be (and still is according to some people) that all calories are created equal. That it didn't matter what you ate in terms of nutrients (fat, carbs and protein), as long as the total calorie intake was below a certain point, you would lose fat.

Unfortunately, that is NOT the case and it's common sense - what do you think would help you lose fat better...that 1000 calories of chocolate pudding or 1000 calories of lean chicken breast, vegetables and brown rice? Quality of food DOES matter and it can mean the difference between success and failure.

Advice: for 1 week, take a small notepad wherever you go and write down EVERYTHING you eat. And do mean EVERYTHING - even if it's just a snack or a little nibble of a cracker, write it down, as well as how much of it you ate. Remember, this is just for one week - you don't have to do this for the rest of your life so be honest about everything you eat!



At the end of the week, look at what you've eaten and put a checkmark beside everything that is unprocessed (a good rule of thumb is anything that can be found on the outside aisles of the grocery store, lean meats, fish, eggs, veggies, fruits, nuts, potatoes, whole grains, legumes, etc.). This is a good visual cue to see exactly how you're doing with your food quality.

If you see that more than half of the foods have checkmarks beside them, you're doing much better than average already! Ideally, you want to get that number of checkmarks as high as possible.

STEP 2 - FOOD QUANTITY
Now that you've looked at WHAT you're eating, it's time to turn your attention to HOW MUCH you're eating. Even the highest quality, nutritious food can make you fat if you eat too much of it. So to lose fat effectively, you basically have to eat less food.

There are many, MANY methods and formulas for figuring this out but, bottom line, ALL of them are really just "best-guesses" - even the scientific formulas that work out your requirements to the single calorie are just guesses. These guesses are based on plenty of data, mind you, and they can be very helpful in determining a good starting point. But if a formula says you need X number of calories and you eat that and you still aren't losing fat, obviously that number isn't the number for you.

Here's a very simple rule of thumb for estimating a STARTING POINT for determining your caloric intake to lose fat: take your weight in pounds and multiply it by 10. For example, if you weigh 175 pounds, that would give you a starting point of 1750 calories per day.

Go back to that week-long list of foods that you wrote down (from the previous point) and plug those foods into the database on this site (it has a HUGE number of foods that you can track):

Add up your calories for the whole week, divide that by 7 (to get your average caloric intake per day) and see how it compares to number you get from the simple formula I described above.

If it's higher, you need to eat less food. If it's lower and you find you're STILL not losing fat, you may need to eat even less than that.
I would NOT recommend going below 1000 calories per day for food intake at the VERY lowest. When you start getting that low, you run into problems because your body isn't getting enough energy and nutrients from the small amount of food you're eating. This is doubly true when you're exercising as well. Your body will react by slowing your metabolism and burning up lean tissue (like your muscle mass). This will put a stop to fat loss and can be dangerous!

STEP 3 - WEIGHT TRAINING

One of the first things people ask when they want to lose fat is "how much cardio should anyone do."

Here's the bottom line: if you go into an aerobics class and take a snapshot of the people in there then come back 6 months later and take another shapshot, chances are VERY good that most of the people in the class haven't made any significant changes to their bodies.

Sure, cardio training burns calories, but it doesn't reshape your body and it doesn't build muscle mass to same degree as weight training. This is true for both men and women.

If you want to lose fat, you should weight train at least three times per week (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). It's recommend total body workouts each session for beginning trainers as it helps the body to learn the exercises faster and build strength and muscle faster.

Here's what a typical resistance training session would look like:
3 sets of back
3 sets of chest
3 sets of thighs
2 sets of shoulders
2 sets of hamstrings
2 sets of biceps
2 sets of triceps
2 sets of calves
2 sets of abs


Take about a minute rest in between each set and aim for about 8 to 10 reps per set.

The MOST important thing to note here with rep ranges is that those 8 to 10 reps are a GUIDE NOT A TARGET. The idea is to choose a weight that makes it tough to complete those 10 reps. The idea is NOT to take a weight that you can easily do 10 reps with, do 10 reps then stop regardless of whether the muscle was really worked or not. To make progress, you need to push yourself.

People diligently counting their reps as they whip through an exercise then stop before they even put a dent in their strength levels.
Don't be afraid to push yourself! THAT is where the real results are!

STEP 4 - CARDIO TRAINING

Cardio definitely has a place in a fat-loss program. A cardio workout will burn the fat but if your genes dictate that your fat hangs on to your stomach, it'll be difficult for the world to discover your six pack. Oftentimes, our genes dictate where the fat goes. Spot exercising will build the muscle but it may not remove the fat. Our bodies love to hold on to a certain percentage of fat. If we go too low, then our body starts to tear down our muscle -- an effect that works against us.

1. It shouldn't be the main focus of a fat-loss exercise program when it so often is.
This is a point mentioned above - I believe weight training should be the focus of an exercise program for fat loss. Not only is it more effective for fat loss, there is actually LESS chance of injury than with the typical repetitive-movement cardio activities (anyone who has tried to take up jogging when they're 20+ pounds overweight can attest to that!).

2. It's normally done with low intensity and for long periods of time, which does NOT boost the metabolism.
The REAL key to losing fat is ramping up your metabolism to burn calories ALL THE TIME rather than just when you're exercising. By keeping intensity low, you only burn calories DURING exercise, not so much after. But when you boost intensity, your metabolism gets cranked up and you burn more calories ALL DAY.

3. It's typically done WAY too much.
In order to get results with typical long-duration cardio, many people do it upwards of 5 or 6 and even 7 days a week! This is fine if you're an athlete training for an endurance competition but if you're a busy person (as many people are), you just don't have TIME to sit on a stationary bike for an hour a day.

Couple that long duration and high frequency with a repetitive movement and you not only have greater chance of injury, you also have greater chance of boredom (which sometimes means giving up on exercise altogether because "it just doesn't work for me").

My recommendation is always to use interval training instead of the long-duration cardio training. It can be done MUCH faster (10 to 20 minutes), boosts your metabolism for long periods AFTER training, and finally, it actually helps your body hang onto muscle tissue while burning fat.

There are two ways to include cardio in with the weight training program described above.

1. Do your cardio training immediately AFTER your weights.
When you do it this way, don't eat anything after you do weights - just go directly into your cardio after a few minutes rest. You only need about 10 minutes of training to really make a dent in your fat stores. This has the advantage of allowing you to get all your training done all at once (in the gym 3 times a week and that's it).

2. Do your cardio training on separate days or separate sessions
This is a good way to go in that you won't be tired from the weight training when you do the interval training. You may need go a bit longer in your sessions (e.g. 15 to 20 minutes) when done on its own. This method does have the advantage of giving your metabolism a separate boost in addition to the weights. When doing it this way, you can do cardio on its own on Tuesday and Thursday, for example.

Either method is very effective! The real key is working hard at the training.

NOTE: DO NOT do interval training every day! It may work well for a little while but you will very quickly overwork the body, which will stop your results.

STEP 5 - SUPPLEMENTS

When training to lose fat, here are the supplements highly recommend:

- Protein Powder - to help with rebuilding and repairing muscle tissue and keeping the immune system functioning well

- Glutamine - helps speed recovery and boost the immune system

- Multivitamins - to help you cover all your nutritional bases

- Vitamin C - helps repair joints, is a strong antioxidant and boosts the immune system

- Calcium/Magnesium - for your bones and also for muscle contractions...it's hard to get enough of these nutrients when reducing caloric intake

These are the basics, as far as I'm concerned. It's critical to give your body ample nutritional support when trying to lose fat.

CONCLUSION:

These 5 simple steps should get you started on your way to losing the extra fat. Here are they are in review:
Step 1 - improve the quality of the food you eat
Step 2 - eat less food
Step 3 - start weight training
Step 4 - include some cardio training
Step 5 - use supplements to support your body

Go through the list step-by-step and you will on your way to fat-loss success!

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