Posts categorized "Nutrition" Feed

Proti Wafers Review

If you have been following me since Ye Olden Days Of WLS  (I had roux en y gastric bypass in 2004, and I've blogged and been on social media since 2005), you will know this is my second go 'round with this product.  (Or here is to hoping it is the same product I adored back in days of old.)

Proti Wafers.  I think I called them "Sugar Wafers, Only Better" in my very first review which I can no longer find.  

Sent to me from netrition, I have a box of Proti Wafers in my choice - vanilla.

Netrition's site reads:

Proti Nutrition Proti Wafer Squares are great tasting, high protein squares that will satisfy your hunger. Proti Squares offer a rich taste at 200-210 calories a serving.

The stats -

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Ingredients: Protein blend (milk protein isolate, hydrolyzed gelatin, whey protein isolate, pea protein isolate), wheat flour, fractionated palm and palm kernel oil, sugar, fructose, milk ingredients (skim milk powder, while milk powder, butter fat), cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, soy lecithin, soy flour, sunflower oil, water, natural and artificial flavors, salt, sodium bicarbonate, sucralose (non-nutritive sweetener), corn flour.

In each box, you receive five packs of two wafer-bars.  Each packet contains two wafers.  

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The best way to describe these bars:  old-fashioned sugar wafers.  I can't think of anything else when biting into them.  Except these have a chocolate base, and a chocolate drizzle, dressed much fancier than the stacks of sugar-cookies I ate as a kid.  

The biggest difference?  These pack 15 grams of protein per 200 calorie serving.  That's pretty super for a snack food.  Early in my weight loss surgery life, I will admit to being psychotically wary of the carbohydrate, fat and sugar content of this product, but now, I find it is a great balance.   

  • Product - Proti Nutrition Proti Wafers, Vanilla
  • Price - $14.95 (for ten wafers)
  • From - netrition
  • Pros - OMG SUGAR WAFER COOKIES WITH PROTEIN POWERS.  Portable protein for the purse (or other) sneaky snacks for the movies.  Tastes like it should not be a protein product
  • Cons - Tastes like it should not be a protein product.  Your kids will open them before you get a chance to review them for your blog and ruin the box they came in.  Just saying.  Your kids will eat them.  If you want to save them for your bariatric diet, HIDE THEM from your family because they ain't cheap. 
  • Rating - Pouchworthy

     


Weight Loss RX = FIBER

Fiber-Weight-Loss

PCRM - 

Adopting a vegetarian diet causes weight loss, even in the absence of exercise or calorie counting, according to a new meta-analysis published as an online advance in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015.

The mega-review analyzed 15 studies, conducted with 755 participants in Finland, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. The studies varied in length, from as short as four weeks to as long as two years, with an average weight loss of 10 pounds over a 44-week period.

“The take-home message is that a plant-based diet can help you lose weight without counting calories and without ramping up your exercise routine,” saysNeal Barnard, M.D., lead author of the study, president of the Physicians Committee, and an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. “We hope health care providers will take note and prescribe this approach to patients looking to manage their weight and health.”

One of the secrets behind losing weight on a plant-based diet is to fill up with fiber. The Physicians Committee recommends consuming close to 40 grams of fiber a day, which is easy to do when you move vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes to the center of your plate.

More than 1.4 billion adults worldwide are overweight and at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis, and certain forms of cancer.

“If you’re overweight, losing just 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can slash the risk of both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” says Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., a study author and director of nutrition education for the Physicians Committee. “As the weight comes off, you’ll start to see blood pressure, blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol fall right along with it.”

 


Chocolate for MEMORY LOSS!?

I might be doing something ... right by my daily doses of unsweetened cocoa!  

Cocoa Bean

I have serious memory issues if you did not notice, on account of the epilepsy, and I assume that someday I'm going to be in a home for the memory impaired.  So every time I see a study like this -- I go OOOOH!  LOOOK!  THIS!  I don't take them very seriously, but I read them ALL.  Firstly, it was sponsored in part by a chocolate candy-maker.  And, yeah.  

But check it.

image from http://s3.amazonaws.com/hires.aviary.com/k/mr6i2hifk4wxt1dp/14102712/22d83c60-d20e-4837-890b-7de9e41db04f.png
The brain area outlined in yellow is the hippocampus; the dentate gyrus is shown in green and the entorhinal cortex in purple. Previous work, including by the laboratory of senior author Scott A. Small, M.D., had shown that changes in a specific part of the brain's hippocampus -- the dentate gyrus -- are associated with normal age-related memory decline in humans and other mammals. The dentate gyrus is distinct from the entorhinal cortex, the hippocampal region affected in early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Credit: Lab of Scott A. Small, M.D.

Via New York Times -

In a small study in the journal Nature Neuroscience, healthy people, ages 50 to 69, who drank a mixture high in antioxidants called cocoa flavanols for three months performed better on a memory test than people who drank a low-flavanol mixture.

On average, the improvement of high-flavanol drinkers meant they performed like people two to three decades younger on the study’s memory task, said Dr. Scott A. Small, a neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center and the study’s senior author. They performed about 25 percent better than the low-flavanol group.

“An exciting result,” said Craig Stark, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Irvine, who was not involved in the research. “It’s an initial study, and I sort of view this as the opening salvo.”

He added, “And look, it’s chocolate. Who’s going to complain about chocolate?”

The findings support recent research linking flavanols, especiallyepicatechin, to improved blood circulation, heart health and memory in mice, snails and humans. But experts said the new study, although involving only 37 participants and partly funded by Mars Inc., the chocolate company, goes further and was a well-controlled, randomized trial led by experienced researchers.

Besides improvements on the memory test — a pattern recognition test involving the kind of skill used in remembering where you parked the car or recalling the face of someone you just met — researchers found increased function in an area of the brain’s hippocampus called the dentate gyrus, which has been linked to this type of memory.

“Boy, this is really interesting to see it in three months,” said Dr. Steven DeKosky, a neurologist and visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “They got this really remarkable increase in a place in the brain that we know is related to age-related memory change.”

There was no increased activity in another hippocampal region, theentorhinal cortex, which is impaired early in Alzheimer’s disease. That reinforces the idea that age-related memory decline is different and suggests that flavanols might not help Alzheimer’s, even though they might delay normal memory loss.

But unless you are stocking up for Halloween, do not rush to buy Milky Way or Snickers bars. To consume the high-flavanol group’s daily dose of epicatechin, 138 milligrams, would take eating at least 300 grams of dark chocolate a day — about seven average-sized bars. Or possibly about 100 grams of baking chocolate or unsweetened cocoa powder, but concentrations vary widely depending on the processing. Milk chocolate has most epicatechin processed out of it.

“You would have to eat a large amount of chocolate,” along with its fat and calories, said Hagen Schroeter, director of fundamental health and nutrition research for Mars, which funds many flavanol studies and approached Dr. Small for this one. (“I nearly threw them out,” said Dr. Small, who added that he later concluded that the company employed serious scientists who would not bias the research.) Mars financed about half the study; other funders were the National Institutes of Health and two research foundations.

“Candy bars don’t even have a lot of chocolate in them,” Dr. Schroeter said. And “most chocolate uses a process called dutching and alkalization. That’s like poison for flavanol.”

Mars already sells a supplement, CocoaVia, which it says promotes healthy circulation, including for the heart and brain. It contains 20 to 25 milligrams of epicatechin per packet of powder or capsule serving, Dr. Schroeter said; 30 packets cost $34.95. Epicatechin is also in foods like tea and apples, although may be less absorbable.

The Columbia study had important limitations. For example, the only daily dietary requirements were either 900 milligrams of flavanols with 138 milligrams of epicatechin or 10 milligrams of flavanols with less than two milligrams of epicatechin, so participants could have eaten other things that played a role.

And while researchers also had half of the healthy but sedentary participants in each group exercise four days a week, surprisingly, the exercise had no effects on memory or brain effects.

Dr. Small, whose research previously found that exercise helped hippocampal function in younger people, suggested maybe more vigorous exercise is needed to affect older brains.

“It’s a very clever, interesting study, but there are some caveats,” said Dr. Kenneth S. Kosik, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “People are going to say, ‘It looks like I can have a lot of candy bars and not exercise.’ So it needs replication on a much larger scale.”

More extensive research is planned. As for why flavanols would help memory, one theory is that they improve brain blood flow; another, favored by Dr. Small, is that they cause dendrites, message-receiving branches of neurons, to grow.

“Everybody’s cautious about antioxidants, but this is a horse of a different color, a really elegant study,” Dr. DeKosky said.

The study -

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3850.html

 

 


Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy — Considerations and Nutritional Implications

Note - I pasted most of this article in full from "Today's Dietician" as it is chock full of good nuggets of information and vitamin information - scroll down - I do not own this information the links are all below -  GOOD GOOD STUFF here!  -MM  

Thank you Bariatric Fusion for the tip!

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Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy — Considerations and Nutritional Implications.  

All below.

Continue reading "Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy — Considerations and Nutritional Implications" »


Fat Letter on Halloween night - No Candy For You, Kid! Added video with interview -

A woman, Cheryl, in Fargo, North Dakota has decided to take Childhood Obesity into her own hands on Halloween, and pass out this letter --  What?!  

Yo, lady -  it's not our business.

Pass out toys.  Shut off your lights.  This letter makes you a tool.    Then again, I think this whole thing is a prank for radio station PR now that I have had a day to look at it.

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Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks


Gastric Bypass Causes Hypoglycemia

Wait - this is news?

"Consistent with that is the fact that there are new conditions—nesidioblastosis, noninsulinoma pancreatogenous hypoglycemia syndrome, hyperinsulinemia and hypoglycemia—[that are] becoming more common after gastric bypass,”

If you are new to my blog -- I self-diagnosed (well, myself!) with reactive hypoglycemia as a result of gastric bypass surgery in my first post operative year.  

I found myself with a severe case of "hand-in-box" syndrome and subsequent blood sugar readings in the 20-40 range after eating.  I found that doctors were not quite versed in what was happening to me -- so I had to deal with my issue on my own.

Now, in my tenth post-operative year, I know how to Eat Around My Gastric Bypass Surgery To Avoid Damaging Blood Sugar Lows -- because as you may also note:  I became an epileptic post-RNY and severe low sugars can trigger seizure activity in the brain.  While it has been established that my epilepsy is not connected to my low blood sugar - it can be triggered by it - so I am careful to avoid stepping into obvious triggers.

We patients - have been screaming about these symptoms for years and often been laughed AT - or ignored.

Just hook us up to an IV bag of glucose - we'll lose our cyclic regains and stop the insanity.  

19402BA
And yes, I know this article reads like an ad for the duodenal switch.  Because.

Enjoy -

Despite its reputation as the gold standard for weight loss, gastric bypass surgery may result in a post-meal glucose spike followed by a blood sugar crash that causes between-meal hunger, according to recent findings. The research examined the effects of different bariatric procedures on post-meal glucose reactions.

Mitchell S. Roslin, MD, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City, and his colleagues first became interested in glucose tolerance testing after noticing that many of their patients who regained weight after gastric bypass surgery complained of inter-meal hunger, especially following meals rich in simple carbohydrates.

“Consistent with that is the fact that there are new conditions—nesidioblastosis, noninsulinoma pancreatogenous hypoglycemia syndrome, hyperinsulinemia and hypoglycemia—[that are] becoming more common after gastric bypass,” Dr. Roslin said. “These are entities surgeons rarely encountered previous to this [era in bariatric surgery].”

The research was presented at the 2013 meeting of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons. The study was sponsored by Covidien.

Dr. Roslin and his team decided to compare glucose metabolism among patients who had undergone gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy or duodenal switch (DS), in which a common channel of at least 125 cm was preserved.

“This type of model gives us the ability to compare two operations that preserve the pyloric valve, as well as two operations that have an intestinal bypass component,” he said.

In the prospective, nonrandomized study, 13 patients received gastric bypass, 12 received sleeve gastrectomy and 13 underwent DS. All completed an oral glucose tolerance test (GTT) at baseline and at six, nine and 12 months. The nine-month GTT comprised a solid mixed-meal muffin. The only significant, preoperative difference among the patients was greater body mass index in the DS group. There were no significant differences in their glucose homeostasis parameters, fasting glucose or insulin.

At 12 months, the DS patients lost significantly more weight than the other two groups, although those patients also experienced good weight loss. All of the operations reduced fasting blood glucose levels as well. But after GTT, the gastric bypass group had much higher levels of one-hour glucose than the DS group, and the sleeve gastrectomy group had intermediate levels. The gastric bypass group also had higher one-hour insulin levels, higher even than their preoperative level, whereas insulin was suppressed in the DS group.

“When you have high insulin, glucose falls, and we know that hypoglycemia causes hunger,” Dr. Roslin said. “Looking at the one- to two-hour glucose ratio, the gastric bypass patients have the highest one-hour sugar [levels] and the lowest two-hour sugar [levels], and I think this begins to explain why we have inter-meal hunger with gastric bypass.”

All of the operations resulted in significant weight loss and other positive outcomes, but compared with gastric bypass patients, DS patients had a much smaller rise in one-hour glucose and insulin levels.

“The sleeve behaves intermediately to the bypass and DS, meaning that preserving the pylorus may be part of the explanation, but not the whole story,” Dr. Roslin said.

“Obviously, controlled trials between gastric bypass and DS are needed to determine the real long-term significance, but I think we should all be cautious before we label gastric bypass the gold standard operation,” he said.

Kevin M. Reavis, MD, of the Division of Gastrointestinal and Minimally Invasive Surgery, The Oregon Clinic, Portland, said that improved assays are allowing for a more rapid and better understanding of the true complexity of the physiologic changes that contribute to the results seen with each of the bariatric procedures.

“This study highlights aspects of glucose metabolism that have previously been underappreciated,” Dr. Reavis said. “Although it is a relatively small study, it illustrates that with gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy and duodenal switch, there are substantial metabolic changes we are just beginning to understand and must investigate on a larger scale in order to optimize clinical outcomes.”


Smashing records, that's what we do.

This is totally a press release from the OAC because James writes them so fancy!

3-7-0.

Just wait until next year, guys.

-Beth

OBESITY ACTION COALITION’S 2ND ANNUAL YOUR WEIGHT MATTERS NATIONAL CONVENTION BREAKS ATTENDANCE RECORDS AND EDUCATES AND INVIGORATES MORE THAN 370 INDIVIDUALS SEEKING EVIDENCE-BASED WEIGHT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Tampa, Fla. â€“ More than 370 individuals from 32 states throughout the nation attended the Obesity Action Coalition’s 2nd Annual Your Weight Matters National Convention, Rise to the Challenge, in Phoenix earlier this month. Education, advocacy and support, the core principles of the OAC’s mission, were fully represented during this year’s Convention, tagged “YWM2013” across social media.

The hundreds in attendance were treated to three days of evidence-based information on a variety of topics, such as food addiction, weight bias, self-perception and many more. Led by thought-leaders in the healthcare field, each educational session was presented by one of 37 distinguished experts dedicated to helping individuals gain a better understanding of how their weight impacts their health. In addition to the world-class education, YWM2013 offered attendees a busy Exhibit Hall with 30 exhibitors all showcasing products and services geared toward those affected by excess weight and obesity.

“The education at this year’s Convention was truly unbelievable. As a speaker, I was able to see first-hand how this Convention changed lives. It brought individuals to a new level of awareness. It broke down topics that are often avoided; however, frequently questioned by those affected by the disease of obesity. What makes Convention so special is that it creates a safe and welcoming environment that is free from judgment. In doing so, it allows individuals to feel comfortable and absorb all that Convention has to offer. Being a part of YWM2013 was simply an amazing experience,” said Robert Kushner, MD, Convention Program Agenda Co-Chair.

The OAC is thankful for all those who volunteered their time in both planning YWM2013 and helping onsite. Countless hours were dedicated to ensuring all attendees received an experience like nothing else out there in the way of education and support.

“Last year’s Inaugural Convention in Dallas was amazing. Being in my home state of Texas, it felt surreal to see so many individuals all in one place wanting to learn more about their weight. I honestly thought it was going to be difficult to top the Inaugural Convention; however, YWM2013 did just that – and more. YWM2013 connected people, and when I say ‘connected,’ I am not just talking about attendee-to-attendee. It gave us, the OAC Board of Directors, staff and others, the opportunity to engage with the attendees, learn more about them and their needs, and most of all – help them rise to their own personal challenges,” said Lloyd Stegemann, MD, FASMBS, Convention Program Agenda Co-Chair.

The tremendous success of YWM2013 would not have been possible without the generous support of this year’s sponsors. The OAC would like to thank the 2013 National Sponsors for their generous support: Platinum – Eisai; Gold – Allergan and Vivus, Inc.; Silver – Covidien; Bronze – AmeriWell Bariatrics, Bari Life Bariatric Supplements, Bariatric Advantage, Celebrate Vitamins, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, and Geisinger.

The OAC is excited to announce that the 3rd Annual Your Weight Matters National Convention will take place in Orlando, Fla., at the Renaissance Orlando at Sea World, September 25-28, 2014. Information on next year’s Convention will be located at www.YWMConvention.com

The OAC is a National nonprofit charity dedicated to helping individuals affected by obesity. The OAC was formed to bring together individuals struggling with weight issues and provide educational resources and advocacy tools.


Understanding and Managing Food #Addiction (and SUGAR!) Livestream Video Via Obesity Action Coalition (OAC)

  • Absolutely worth the watch if you like good brain food.
  • Dr. Nicole Avena is a research neuroscientist and expert in the fields of nutrition, diet and addiction. She received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Psychology from Princeton University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology at The Rockefeller University in New York City. She has published over 50 scholarly journal articles, as well as several book chapters and a book, on topics related to food, addiction, obesity and eating disorders. She also edited the book, Animal Models of Eating Disorders (2012) and has a popular book of food and addiction coming out in 2014 (Ten Speed Press). Her research achievements have been honored by awards from several groups including the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Psychological Association, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Eating Disorders Association. She also maintains a blog, Food Junkie, with Psychology Today.

Yay SUMMER - Get hydrated! #momwisdom

Summer starts tomorrow.   Ironically in Massachusetts it's been the one of the WETTEST JUNES on record.  My plants are loving it.  Beth can't seem to get the message - drink. more. water = feel better = grow better?  Moms are always right.

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My flowers got the message:

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This article is #sponsored by Nestlé® Pure Life® Purified Water-

In order to keep her family on track, some Moms pass down advice through generations; others create their own pieces of wisdom. Sometimes the advice Mom gives can seem a little “out there”, influenced by her own unique traditions and values. But there’s no denying that Mom’s advice always comes from the heart. We celebrate Mom for all of her unique wisdom.

Trust-your-gut-instincts

Moms have provided many pure words of wisdom. Listed below is some of our favorite advice.

  • “Be patient, breathe, and smile. Everything will always work out.” #momswisdom
  • “Don’t be a worrywart” #momswisdom
  • “Be independent and follow your dreams.” #momswisdom
  • “If someone is giving you a hard time, give them kindness in return.” #momswisdom
  • “It’s always better to walk away than to say words you can’t take back.” #momswisdom
  • “Don’t let small details upset you. Look at the big picture and what's really important.” #momswisdom
  • “Your individuality makes you unique and wonderful.” #momswisdom
  • “Mother knows best” #momswisdom
  • “Opportunity is always knocking, you just have to listen hard enough to hear it.” #momswisdom
  • “Trust your gut instincts.” #momswisdom
  • “Learn from your past but do not let it define you.” #momswisdom

Water tips -

Hydration-movement-logo

  • Mom probably gave you some pure wisdom to help you live a healthy life. That’s why Nestlé® Pure Life® wants to help you share some wisdom on how to stay hydrated this summer. 

    - Did you know that 60% of an adult body is water? Keep it well hydrated by drinking enough water!
    Source: USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
    http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/NutritionInsights/Insight27.pdf

    - In addition to drinking plain water every day, eating foods with high moisture content—such as fruits and vegetables—could be a good way to increase total water consumption. Water constitutes 90% of most fruits and vegetables and about 50% of meats.  Source: USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
    http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/NutritionInsights/Insight27.pdf

    - Drink water instead of sugary drinks when you’re thirsty. Regular soda, energy or sports drinks, and other sweet drinks usually contain added sugar. To manage your daily calorie intake, sip water or other drinks with few or no calories. Source: ChooseMyPlate.gov
    http://choosemyplate.gov/foodgroups/downloads/TenTips/DGTipsheet19MakeBetterBeverageChoices.pdf

    - Drink water with and between your meals. Adults and children take in about 400 calories per day as beverages—drinking water can help you manage your calorie intakes.  Source: ChooseMyPlate.gov
    http://choosemyplate.gov/foodgroups/downloads/TenTips/DGTipsheet19MakeBetterBeverageChoices.pdf

    - Water is a great choice when it comes to daily hydration. Have ready-to-go containers filled with water available in the refrigerator. Place them in lunch boxes or backpacks for easy access when kids are away from home.  Source: ChooseMyPlate.gov
    http://choosemyplate.gov/foodgroups/downloads/TenTips/DGTipsheet19MakeBetterBeverageChoices.pdf"

- This article is #sponsored by Nestlé® Pure Life® Purified Water  Thank you!  

How do you get in your daily water?  Do you aim for a particular goal?  


Brain study aims to stop overeating after weight-loss surgery | Health - WCVB Home

Brain study aims to stop overeating after weight-loss surgery

A clinical trial at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston, MA is under way where a group of people who have had gastric banding surgery undergo non-invasive brain stimulation.  Video is at the link.

Hapi Fork - Vibrate your obesity away!

HAPIfok

Introducing the positivity-enhanced HAPIfork!  It is an electronic fork that monitors your personal eating style and habits and gives you cues as to when you are eating too fast.  The HAPIform will alert you with lights and vibrations when you are shoveling food into your piehole.
I have a better idea.  Add moar amps.  Give your Happy A Charge!
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Electricity travels through conductors - any material which allows electrical flow - as it tries to reach the ground. Because people make excellent conductors, minor electrocution is a common household hazard. Fortunately it is usually more surprising than dangerous and does not require medical attention. However, some basic precautions should be taken to insure that the shock does not interfere with the body's normal electrical impulses including the functions of the brain and the heart. Prolonged exposure to a direct source of electricity can also cause severe burns to the skin and the tissue.
It would work faster than a $100.00 vibrating fork.
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So maybe being pear-shaped is not such a good thing?

Pear
We have heard for years that being pear-shaped was preferable to other body-shapes, that carrying excess body-fat in the hips, thighs, legs and rear was 'healthier' than the belly.  That 'pears' were a preferable body-shape to have than 'apples.'  This is not necessarily so.
Chicago Tribune - via Journal of Clinical Endocrinology

If you're pear-shaped and smug, a new study's findings may take you down a peg: For those at slightly increased risk of developing diabetes, fat stored in the buttocks pumps out abnormal levels of two proteins associated with inflammation and insulin resistance. (And that's not good.)

The new research casts some doubt on an emerging conventional wisdom: that when it comes to cardiovascular and diabetes risk, those of us who carry some excess fat in our hips, thighs and bottoms ("pear-shaped" people) are in far better shape than those who carry most of their excess weight around the middle ("apples").

The new study was posted online this week in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, and it focuses on a number of proteins, with names such as chemerin, resistin, visfatin and omentin-1, that could one day be used to distinguish between obese people headed for medical trouble and those whose obesity is less immediately dangerous.

The subjects in the study were all people with "nascent" metabolic syndrome — meaning patients who already have at least three risk factors for developing diabetes (large waist circumference, high blood pressure, high triglcerides, low HDL, or "good" cholesterol, and high fasting blood sugar) but no cardiovascular disease or diabetes complications yet.

The researchers found these subjects' "gluteal adipose tissue" — fat in and around the buttocks — pumped out unusually high levels of chemerin, a protein that has been linked to high blood pressure, elevated levels of C-reactive protein, triglycerides and insulin resistance, and low levels of good cholesterol. The blood and subcutaneous fat drawn from gluteal tissue also contained unusually low levels of omentin-1, a protein that, when low, is linked to high triglycerides, high circulating glucose levels and low levels of good cholesterol.

"Fat in the abdomen has long been considered the most detrimental to health, and gluteal fat was thought to protect against diabetes, heart disease and metabolic syndrome," said Ishwarlal Jialal, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and of internal medicine at UC Davis and lead author of the study. "But our research helps to dispel the myth that gluteal fat is innocent," he added.


Dear Christmas Cookies -

Dear Plate Of Christmas Cookies -

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It's not you - it's me.  We cannot be together.

Our relationship was doomed from the start.  When you came into my life, I was on a roll!  I had been tracking my food intake for a full month (something that is very unlike me) I had just lost a few pounds and I was content to post my weight numbers online for accountability's sake.

Then, you arrived.  First there were a few assorted snacks from family, and then a plate of sugar-cookies (ie. straight-crack) which I cannot resist.  Plain old sugar cookies are my kryptonite.  

In nine years post-gastric bypass living, I know exactly how much sugar vs. carbohydrates vs. fat it takes to Not Get Sick or having dumping syndrome from eating - which leads to "food games."  That means - sugar cookies are one of the easiest (naughty) foods to eat and not die from.  Two won't make me die, but THE CALORIES ADD UP SO. VERY. FAST.  Which leads to Caloric Amnesia!  

"I don't remember eating two cookies this morning," and two later, and two later, and two later ... and soon you realize that you May Have Had a half-tube or half-bowl of dough worth of cookies over the course of the day in just "little bits" but because you haven't "written it down."

The cookies lead to "forgetting."  

Even though I took the steps to throw the cookies away (...and pretty damn immediately I should mention!) and stopped the madness before it got any worse -- I didn't get back into the habit of food journaling and I have missed every single day since at least Christmas Eve.  I have also conveniently "forgotten" to weigh-in since.  

I see how this works, how this cycle snowballs so very quickly for so many of us.  Moderation.  It doesn't always work.  

2012-01-29-everything_in_moderation

Join me -