User:Thomps28/Nutrition and Weight Management

Weight management is a long-term approach to a healthy life style. It includes a balance of healthy eating and physical activity to equate energy expenditure and energy intake. Developing healthy eating habits while using tips and tricks that will keep us fuller longer can be useful tools in weight management. Knowing what your body needs is very important to weight management and can control the over/under consumption of food. Weight management does not include FAD diets that promote quick, temporary weight loss. It focuses on the long-term results that are achieved through slow weight loss (if necessary), followed be retention of an ideal body weight for age, sex and height. Weight management is important because rising obesity rates are a major concern in North America. About 60% of Canadians are overweight or obese (13). Obesity is a risk factor for many chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease (12). Managing one’s weight is one factor in preventing such chronic diseases.

Popular Diets

When assessing popular diets, it’s important to understand that a person’s food preferences, lifestyle and medical conditions should be taken into account when choosing the correct diet. Adherence level to the diet is a bigger determinant of clinical benefits over the diet type itself (Comparision of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight watchers and Zone Diets for weight loss and heart disease risk reuction A randomized trial ) Also “dieting” needs to be a lifestyle change and can’t just be for a short term amount of time.

Weight Watchers

Offers a variety of dieting products and services to assist weight loss and maintenance by a calorie restricting method. Weight watchers promote healthy habits, a supportive environment, exercise and healthy food choices. A member to selects a goal weight that will result in a body mass index (BMI) generally accepted as healthy (18 – 24.9). Participants are encouraged to produce a rate of weight loss up to 2 pounds per week. Their food guide promotes food choices that not only reduce calories, but also meet nutritional recommendations. Exercise is also recommended for weight loss and is incorporated into their points system. They use a points system that incorporates calories, fat, and dietary fiber content of each food and you are given a certain number of points your suppose to consumer each day.

Strengths

• Their food guide promotes food choices that reduce calories, and also meet nutritional recommendations.
• They construct an activity plan along with nutritional guidelines to encourage exercise.
• They offer support and encouragement through weekly meetings

Limitations

• Can be quite expensive over time
• Is a slower weight loss than other more restrictive diets

The Atkins Diet

Involves the restriction of carbohydrates in ones diet causing the body's metabolism to switch from burning glucose as fuel to burning stored body fat, sending the body into a state of ketosis. Ketosis causes a person to get their energy from ketones, which also causes you to feel less hungry. Carbohydrate consumption must be <40 grams/day (= 1 slice of bread) for ketosis to occur.

Strengths

• Allowed to eat rich foods
• When in ketosis you feel less hungry and more satisfied

Limitations

• Ketosis causes unusual breath odor and constipation
• There is worry that the diet promotes heart disease and there is a potential loss of bone and it is not recommended for people with liver and kidney problems due to the high amounts of protein.
• The preferred source of energy for the brain is glucose, which is decreased in a low-carbohydrate diet

Ornish Diet

Is a fat restricting diet (less than 10% of calories from fat) focusing on eating high amounts of fiber, and following a low-fat vegetarian diet. The Ornish diet recommends combining the diet with exercise that allows the body’s fat burning mechanism to work most effectively. The philosophy is focused less on restricting calories but by watching the ones consumed, by recommending foods that can be eaten all the time, some of the time and none of the time. Foods that can be eaten whenever you are hungry, until you are full are:

• Beans and legumes, fruits, grains and vegetables

Foods eaten in moderation are:

• Nonfat dairy products – skim milk, nonfat yogurt, nonfat cheese, nonfat sour cream and egg whites

Foods to avoid

• Meats of all kinds – if can’t give up, only eat minimally
• Oils and oil-containing products (margarine and most salad dressings)
• Avocados, olives, nuts and seeds, dairy products (other than non-fat ones)
• Simple sugar and simple sugar derivatives (honey, molassess, corn syrup, and high-fructose syrup)
• Alcohol
• Anything commercially prepared that has more than 2 grams of fat per serving

Suggests eating a lot of little meals because this diet makes you feel hungry more often, which will help you feel full faster and you’ll eat more food without increasing the number of calories.

Strengths

• Does not restrict calories
• Doesn’t slow down metabolism
• Recommends regular exercise, yoga and meditation along with the diet
• Has been associated with a reversal of coronary blockage

Weakness

• Very restrictive
• You will feel hungrier and need to eat more food (but less calories)

Weight Management

Increase protein especially at breakfast

The satiating property of dietary protein is influenced by the time of protein consumption- intake at breakfast has a greater satiety effect than later meal times (1) High protein breakfast slows gastric emptying (2). The most satiating macronutrient appears to be protein (2). High protein breakfast increased glucagon (2)- pathways for glucose synthesis are stimulated. Protein has a greater thermeogenic affect than carbohydrates and fat (14). One reason for this is that there is very minimal storage capacity for protein in the human boday and hence with an increased protein intake there is an increase of oxidizing/ eliminating amino acids. This in term increases thermogenisis. (14). Studies: 6-month randomized trial of 60 overweight/obese individuals showed that fat loss was approximately twice as much in the high-protein diet group than the moderate-protein diet group. (high-protein diet: 25% energy; 128-139 g/d; moderate protein diet: 12% of energy, 76-80 g/day) (14)

Use a smaller plate

Smaller portion sizes result in consumption of less calories (3). Using smaller plates helps to consume smaller portion sizes (video). One study showed that participants consumed 30% less calories with the small portion sized compared with the large portion size (3). Portion size does influence energy intake (4). Studies have shown that people who are presented with larger portions do not have a higher level of satiety, which suggests that hunger and satiety signals are ignored or overridden (4)

Eat more soup - especially pureed

Soups have a great satiety effect. Studies have shown that soup ingestion compared to solid foods influence individuals to have a lower energy intake (5). Compared to having no soup, it has been shown that eating soup reduces meal and total meal energy intake (6). When soup is consumed before a meal, a decrease of 20% of energy is consumed in the meal (6)

Choose the low calorie foods

A moderate decrease in caloric intake will lead to slow weight loss, which may be more beneficial for long term weight management (12)

Opt for lower fat dairy and meat cuts - meat alternatives

Low fat meats- reduce calorie and cholesterol intakes (11). These low fat meats have a decreased amount of fat in the ingredients and use fat substitutes, which can cut down caloric value by approximately half (11)

Eating more dairy can aid in fat loss

Studies have shown that a diet high in dairy, decreases total body fat (7). High calcium diets increase fecal fat and energy excretion (8). Possible explanation: calcium soap formation or binding of bile acids in the intestine (9). Saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats had a higher excretion with a higher calcium intake. High Calcium intake- 2300 mg, low Calcium intake- 700 mg (9)

Incorporate more vegetables into your meals

Fruits and vegetables have been shown to increase satiety and decrease hunger (10). Fruits and Vegetables have a low energy density mainly due to water and partly due to fiber (10). Water adds weight without adding calories (10). The reduction of energy density enhances satiety (10). Fiber- increases satiety, decreases hunger, and decreases energy intake (10)

References

• Increased dietary protein consumed at breakfast leads to an initial and sustained feeling of fullness during energy restriction compared to other meal times- http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FBJN%2FBJN101_06%2FS0007114508051532a.pdf&code=db6f01bdfd6a917a6798fcc5c0bfb3b2