Tuesday, 5 July 2022, 17:56

Spain is one of the countries in the world with the longest life expectancy. And the trend continues: according to data from the INE (National Statistics Institute), life expectancy in the elderly has increased over the last few decades. The INE's projection is that in 2035 life expectancy will reach 90 years for women, and 85 years for men.

And why should we take care of our habits? The main reason is health, in all its aspects, to feel good physically, but also emotionally and mentally. A healthy lifestyle reduces the chances of suffering from many ailments and illnesses. Undoubtedly, if we improve our wellbeing, we will be much closer to our best version of ourselves, to our happiness and, therefore, to sharing it with the people around us. There are many benefits!

Aspects of enjoying a healthy lifestyle

1.The first key is nutrition. And in Andalusia we have the privilege of enjoying the Mediterranean diet. The aim should be to eat quality food to cover our vital needs, avoiding those that may be harmful to our organism.

2.Physical exercise is another of the fundamental keys. With just 30 minutes per day of physical activity we can reduce the risk of suffering cardiovascular problems, according to the Spanish Heart Foundation. As well as burning calories, strengthening muscles, keeping blood pressure under control and cholesterol levels in check, it reduces stress levels, improves our mood and helps us sleep better.

3.And so we come to one of the most overlooked but equally important and fundamental keys: rest.

To improve your rest is to improve your quality of life

We spend a third of our lives sleeping. While clichd, its still true, so we must ask ourselves: do we give our rest the importance it deserves? We must bear in mind that physical and mental rest is essential for us to really feel well.

Getting regular sleep for 6 to 8 hours a day, even up to 10 hours depending on our age, allows our body to recover, which is why the Mattressologists at leading sleep chain MiColchn recommend enjoying a "restorative" rest. A quality rest has many benefits for our body, as highlighted by the experts and the conclusions of the first study on Health and Rest developed by ASOCAMA (Spanish Bed Association) and the Foundation for Health Education (FUNDADEPS).

Healthy rest allows us to restore our nervous system and our physical and psychological functions, that's why MiColchn stresses the importance of rest, not only for our health, but also for our daily performance or our mood, and furthermore, according to the Mlaga firm's Mattressologists, "rest is the best beauty treatment there is"

Mattressologists tips to enjoy quality sleep

The MiColchn group, with 9 centres across the province of Mlaga, has more than 40 years of experience advising on the most suitable rest for each individual. Moreover, their staff have specific training, not only on the latest advances in materials and products, but also with courses given by renowned physiotherapists such as Romualdo Castillo. The main objective at MiColchn is to achieve the most comfortable and restorative rest:

1.Trust specialists to choose the mattress that best suits your lifestyle, build, age, sleeping posture and, above all, a mattress suitable for any back problems. At MiColchn, thanks to the mattress company Nessen, you will find an ideal mattress for every diagnosed ailment: spondylitis, scoliosis, fibromyalgia, low back pain, osteoporosis. There is a suitable mattress in terms of firmness and ideal support to alleviate our rest.

2.Take care of your bedding. Both your mattress and your pillow should be fitted with good quality protectors and covers that absorb moisture and regulate the temperature. Your MiColchn mattressologists will be able to advise you according to your needs, for example if you feel particularly hot or if you suffer from allergies.

3.Look after your nutrition with a balanced diet.

4.Exercise regularly.

5.Keep your bedroom dark and at a stable and comfortable temperature, not too hot or cold.

6.Before going to sleep:

a.Have a set, regular bedtime and wake-up time. Keeping a routine helps us to relax quicker.

b.Avoid heavy dinners, drinking coffee in the evening, and alcoholic beverages. Avoid activities that can cause stress or excessive stimulation.

7.And finally, if you often have difficulty getting to sleep and youve followed all this advice, be sure to talk to your doctor. Enjoying good quality rest is a need, not a luxury!

Would you like to see more tips and advice on how to improve your rest and your quality of life? See https://www.micolchon.com/blog/ or visit your MiColchn stores: in Mlaga, Benalmdena, Fuengirola, Marbella, Vlez Mlaga and Torre del Mar, and opening in Motril in July!!!

Sleep hotline: 951 555 155. Info@micolchon.com

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Healthy lifestyle: nutrition, exercise and... rest! - Surinenglish.com

The key to a long, happy retirement is not just having a flush portfolio or moving to a low-tax state with 300-plus days of sunshine. Its having the good health to enjoy your golden years.

And thats more than clich. Edward Jones surveyed 11,000 adults and found that 69% wanted to live to age 100. However, some didnt want such longevity if they were in terrible health (32%), if they became a burden on their families (29%), if they had serious cognitive loss (20%), and if they no longer had purpose in life (14%).

Many people assume that their chances of a long, healthy life is largely out of their hands, controlled by the genes they inherited. Its not that simple.

While scientists previously believed that genetics accounted for roughly 25% of lifespan, new research has put that number under 10%. Genetics still matters. Whether or not you dodge a particular affliction may be determined by your genes. And for extremely long-lived peoplethose who live beyond perhaps age 105genes are still thought to pay a huge role.

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Barrons brings retirement planning and advice to you in a weekly wrap-up of our articles about preparing for life after work.

For most of us, however, whether we get 75 or 85 or 95 healthy years is affected more by lifestyle choices than by genes. Getting regular exercise and enough sleep, eating nutritious, healthy foods, staying resilient and connected with other humansthese are the habits that produce continuing good health, long lifespans and enjoyable, productive retirements. They will also lower your healthcare costs and reduce your odds of developing dementiatwo of the biggest worries for retirees.

Genetics are the gun and lifestyle pulls the trigger, says Dr. David Fein, medical director of the Princeton Longevity Center in New Jersey.

Barrons recently talked to longevity experts, geriatric doctors, and read the latest research to come up with some concrete steps for improving your odds of a long, healthy life. Some of it is age-old advice. But research has also upended some of the conventional wisdom in recent years. For example, doctors used to think that moderate alcohol consumption was good for you; new research shows otherwise.

Here are six things you can do to improve your chances for having the good health to enjoy your retirement.

Exercise isnt a particularly efficient way of losing weight. But it is great at just about everything else when it comes to improving your health.

Want to lower your blood pressure or your blood sugar levels? Want to sleep better? Want to improve your brain function and memory? Want to lift your spirits? All these things are important for our health, and over recent years, theres been much research showing how exercise helps in all.

Exercise doesnt necessarily mean going to the gym. Brisk daily walks around the neighborhood will give you similar benefits. Nor does exercise all have to be done in one continuous session. Little five- or 10-minute bursts of activity throughout the day could be even better for you than a single session.

Its very hard to make up for 47 hours of being sedentary with one hour of intensive exercise, says Dr. Fein. Chairs kill more people than anything else.

Especially as you get older, be sure to include resistance training or other weight-bearing exercises to strengthen your bones and retain muscle mass. Biking or swimming are great for your cardiovascular system but they wont protect you from osteoporosis. If youre not lifting weights, try a few minutes of jumping ropes to build stronger bones.

Can there be too much of a good thing when it comes to exercise? Some research has found that extreme exercise actually hurts your health. An in-depth study in 2018 found otherwise. It studied 122,000 patients and measured their fitness not on how much they said they exercised, but how they performed on a treadmill test. It found the extremely fit had the lowest mortality levels.

But the debate over how much exercise is too much is beside the point. The big difference in health isnt between those in good shape and those in extremely good shape. Its between those who exercise and those who dont.

All sorts of good things happen as you sleep. Cells renew themselves. Your body produces hormones, which helps restore the body and reset many of its functions. Not getting enough sleep hurts your immune function. Scientists have found that people who dont sleep enough are more likely to eventually develop dementia.

How much sleep is enough sleep? The rough rule is between six to eight hours a night for adults. But different people may have different patterns and still get enough sleep. Some people may wake up in the middle of the night, be up for an hour or two, and go back to sleep for a few more hours. Others may take a nap in the middle of the day.

What is the best pattern for you? We dont know, says Daniel Belsky, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health, who says there hasnt been much high-quality research on the subject. What pattern is optimal for a person may depend on the life they lead.

Dr. Belsky says there has been good research on shift workers who work at night while others are sleeping, and they pay a health priceparticularly if their sleep times keep changing.

Other Americans have trouble sleeping, no matter what time it is. If that applies to you, doctors advise you to improve your sleep hygiene. Go to bed at the same time each night. Make sure your bedroom is dark and at a comfortable temperature. And dont keep checking your smartphone throughout the night.

For years, many doctors advised their patients that moderate drinking, particularly red wine, was good for them. After all, research had shown that moderate drinkers lived longer than both heavy drinkers and nondrinkers.

But new research has changed the conventional wisdom on the subject.

It finds the reason moderate drinkers had better health wasnt the alcohol; it is believed to stem from favorable lifestyle, socioeconomic, and behavioral factors.

Drinking increases your risks for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain cancers. The risks appear minimal for light drinkers but increase with higher drinking levels.

Bottom line: Nobody should start drinking because they think its good for their health, says geriatrician Alicia Ines Arbaje, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Alcohol is directly toxic to the body. There is no amount that is beneficial.

Obesity is tied to a multitude of illnesses, including higher rates of diabetes, heart disease and many cancers. Obese people have been hit harder by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But it doesnt necessarily follow that going on a strict diet to shave off some pounds is good for you. Losing weight isnt that hard. But keeping weight off is quite hard, and yo-yoing up and down doesnt do your body any good.

Whats more, all fat isnt created equal. The subcutaneous fat that sits on our hips may be unsightly, but it doesnt appear to have big effects on our health. The nasty stuff is the visceral fat that surrounds our organs. It changes the hormones produced by the body, and is linked to diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers and Alzheimers disease.

The only way of knowing for sure how much visceral fat you have is some sort of body scan, which is expensive and not recommended by most health experts for the general population.

People with bigger waists or apple-shaped bodies tend to have more visceral fat. But even there it gets tricky since different ethnic groups, notably people of Asian heritage, have a tendency to carry more visceral fat.

Morgan Levine is an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine who studies aging and wrote the book True Age. Instead of focusing on your weight, she says people should exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet. The good news is that exercise does reduce visceral fat.

Weight is such a bad proxy or measure for what is contributing to health, Dr. Levine says. Its so much more complex than how heavy you are.

Further complicating things, while weight loss may be desirable for the general population, it often isnt for seniors because it can cause loss of muscle and can contribute to osteoporosis. Geriatrician Deborah Kado, who has done extensive research on bone health and is co-director of the Stanford Longevity Center in California, doesnt usually advise her older patients to lose weight.

I tell them its insurance if you go into the hospital, she says. There is a lot of data that indicates that weight loss, whether intentional or unintentional, has been associated with adverse health outcomes rather than health benefits.

Nutrition is one of the trickier areas to research. Its hard to know exactly what research subjects actually eat. And it can take years for health effects to emerge. Nonetheless, scientists are seeing eating patterns that contribute to longevity.

A study found that even 60-year-olds could add an average eight or nine years to their lives by abandoning a Western diet. The biggest gains came from eating more legumes, whole grains and nuts, and eating less red meat and processed meat. Eating more fish was also a plus. The effects of eggs, poultry and oil were less clear. If it sounds a lot like the Mediterranean diet, it is. But its emphasis on vegetables, legumes and whole grains also bears similarities to how people eat in other parts of the world known for longevity.

Americans eat too much protein, says Yales Dr. Levine. She says protein contributes to overly high levels of the human growth hormone, which is linked to certain cancers and appears to increase aging.

But once again, the recommendation changes when it comes to seniors. Older people dont process protein as well, and need more of it in their diet to maintain muscle mass, research has found.

Live long enough, and bad things are likely to happen to you or the people around you. How you deal with them is key. People who have a positive mind-set on things they cant control tend to have much better outcomes, says Dr. Kado, the Stanford geriatrician. She says it is almost the most important factor in how her patients fare.

People are social creatures. And we tend to be more resilient when we have strong social connections. This can come through our family, our friends, our church, or even our retirement community. There has been research showing that maintaining social connections is good for brain health. So go for a walk with a friend and eat an apple afterward.

When it comes to longevity, these are all steps in the right direction. Saving for that longer life, and retirement, is another story.

Write to retirement@barrons.com

Continued here:
Here's How to Maximize Your Healthy Years in Retirement. Eat Right and Exercise. - Barron's

When trying to lose weight quickly, some people turn to fad diets that promise fast results using questionable methods.

These plans are typically very low in calories, restrict many healthy foods, and involve following strict rules, like eating only one food.

Even though any type of low calorie diet can result in rapid weight loss, there are major concerns with fad diets that promote the use of unnecessary and even dangerous rules.

The pineapple diet is a fad diet that people have used since the 1970s to shed excess body fat.

In this article, I explain what the pineapple diet is and why its not a safe way to lose weight.

The pineapple diet, also known as the Sexy Pineapple Diet, was created by a Danish psychologist named Sten Hegeler.

Hegeler and his wife, Inge, published the book The Sexy Pineapple Diet in 1970. The diet promised to help people slim down and improve other aspects of health, like sexual vitality.

The diet consists of eating nothing but pineapple for two days out of the week, then eating normally for five days.

According to some sources, the plan allows you to consume other foods during the 2 pineapple-only days, so long as the food provides fewer than 500 total calories (1).

Keep in mind that the full book is not available to view online, and theres not a lot of information available regarding foods to eat, rules, length of the diet, and other recommendations.

According to an interview with Hegeler, the diet wasnt based on any scientific evidence. The author simply liked pineapple, so he thought that creating a diet based on consuming large amounts of pineapple was a good idea (1).

Online sources claim that most people who follow this diet do so for 27 days, but some people follow the diet for several weeks until they reach their goal weight.

In addition to the original Sexy Pineapple Diet, there are other pineapple-based diets and cleanses promoted online that involve eating nothing but pineapple for 27 days.

The Sexy Pineapple Diet is a diet plan that recommends consuming nothing but pineapple for 2 days a week. Other versions of the pineapple diet exist, each with its own rules.

When following the Sexy Pineapple Diet, youll eat nothing but pineapple for two days per week. Its not clear whether the days have to be consecutive.

On the other five days, youll eat normally. Again, specific recommendations from the book are not available, so its not clear what type of diet Hegeler recommended on the five non-pineapple days.

According to some sources, youre allowed to eat other foods during the two pineapple days, but its not clear which foods are allowed.

Some sources shared that if youre allergic to pineapple, the book suggests eating fruits like apples, pears, or bananas instead.

Other pineapple-based plans online recommend consuming foods like oats, yogurt, and lean proteins, plus a lot of pineapple.

Some strict versions of the pineapple diet involve eating nothing but pineapple for 27 days. These diets do not allow any other foods besides pineapple.

As you can see, there are many types of pineapple-based diets and cleanses promoted online, each with their own rules and recommendations.

Depending on the type of pineapple diet, the plan may involve eating nothing but pineapple for 2 to 7 days or eating a lot of pineapple combined with other low calorie foods like oatmeal and lean protein sources.

The Sexy Pineapple Diet recommends eating nothing but pineapple for two days a week. However, some sources say that it allows for other low calorie foods as well, though its unclear which foods are recommended.

During the other five days of the week, a person following the Sexy Pineapple Diet follows their normal diet.

Other pineapple-based fad diets recommend eating nothing but pineapple for two to seven days.

This means that you cant consume any other foods besides pineapple.

If you decide to follow one of these super strict, pineapple-only plans, youll be eating pineapple for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Healthy whole foods like eggs, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fish, and grains will be off-limits.

Depending on the type of pineapple diet you follow, you may only be allowed to eat pineapple for 27 days or to alternate days of only pineapple with days of normal eating.

Eating nothing but pineapple for two to seven days is absolutely unnecessary for weight loss.

Of course, limiting your calorie intake using any method, including unhealthy ones, will promote weight loss.

For example, if youre used to consuming 2,000 calories per day and then follow a 5-day plan that involves eating nothing but pineapple, youll be taking in significantly fewer calories, which will create a calorie deficit.

One cup (165 grams) of cubed pineapple provides just 82.5 calories. Lets say you consume 6 cups (990 grams) of pineapple per day 2 cups (330 grams) at each meal. This equates to only 495 calories, which is extremely low (2).

When youre eating normally, a single meal may contain 500 calories or more, depending on your energy needs.

Any diet that significantly cuts calories and creates an extreme calorie deficit will induce weight loss (3).

However, this doesnt mean that losing weight using such restrictive methods is safe or effective for long-term weight maintenance.

Also, if you follow a diet plan that significantly cuts calories, you will almost certainly gain back any weight you lose as soon as you return to your normal dietary pattern (4).

Journalists who tried the Sexy Pineapple Diet and documented the experience have lost between 02.2 pounds (1 kg) in a week.

However, you can achieve sustainable weight loss using methods that are actually based on scientific research and dont involve eating just one food for a prolonged period of time.

Lastly, theres no evidence that the Sexy Pineapple Diet or any other pineapple-based fad diet, for that matter is safe or effective for weight loss.

Heleger, the diets creator, even admitted that the diet is not based on any sound medical advice. He designed the plan simply because he enjoyed eating pineapple.

Any diet that significantly cuts calories will create a calorie deficit and promote weight loss. However, this isnt a safe or sustainable way to lose weight. Youll likely regain the weight once you return to normal eating habits.

Its unlikely that following the Sexy Pineapple Diet will result in any significant side effects if you follow it for a week. This is because the plan only restricts calories and foods on two days out of the week.

Studies show that diets that significantly restrict calories for 2 days per week, like the 5:2 method of intermittent fasting, can be safe (5).

But chances are youll be extremely hungry, irritable, and tired on a fad diet like this one. Journalists who tried the Sexy Pineapple Diet reported these feelings when they documented their experiences.

Because pineapple is so acidic, it might bother your stomach, especially if thats all youre eating for an entire day. You may feel nauseated or experience diarrhea.

If youre following a plan that involves eating nothing but pineapple for 5 days or longer, you could experience side effects like dizziness, passing out, headaches, hunger pains, insomnia, weakness, and extreme hunger (6).

Because pineapple contains less than one gram of protein and fat per cup (165 grams) and lacks many vitamins and minerals, like vitamin B-12 and vitamin E, your body wont be getting the nutrients it needs to function optimally (2).

Plus, many people consider protein to be the most filling macronutrient, so when youre not eating adequate amounts of protein, you wont feel full (7).

Because pineapple is lacking in many important nutrients, following a plan that involves eating nothing but pineapple for longer than a few days can also put you at risk for developing a nutrient deficiency.

Also, its never a good idea to engage in such restrictive eating habits. It could lead to long-term complications involving your relationship with your body and food, including eating disorders.

For example, you may be afraid to resume normal eating habits after finishing a restrictive diet like the Sexy Pineapple Diet because you fear regaining the weight you lost.

Pineapple-based weight loss plans can result in side effects like extreme hunger, nausea, headaches, and other unpleasant side effects. Following a pineapple-only diet long-term can be dangerous and put you at risk of developing nutrient deficiencies.

You do not need to follow any restrictive diet to lose weight. Its not a good idea to follow any diet or cleanse that recommends drastically cutting calories, only eating one food, or cutting out entire food groups.

Even though you may be tempted to try a diet that promises rapid weight loss, you can lose body fat by following safe, evidence-based plans that involve making long-term dietary and lifestyle changes that leave you feeling deprived.

If you want to lose weight, its best to create a small calorie deficit by cutting out or reducing your intake of sugary beverages, ultra-processed foods like fast food, and fried foods.

At the same time, make an effort to eat more nutrient-dense foods, like vegetables and fruits.

Adding more protein and fiber into your diet is also a helpful way to induce weight loss and maintain a healthy body weight, as foods rich in these nutrients help you feel full and keep you satisfied between meals (8, 9, 10).

Additionally, becoming more active by engaging in regular physical activity can be helpful for promoting weight loss and can also improve other aspects of health, like cardiorespiratory fitness (11).

Weight loss isnt always easy and can take time. If youre unsure of where to start on your weight loss journey, consider working with a registered dietitian.

They can help you create a dietary pattern that works best for your needs and that you can follow for life.

You do not need to follow any restrictive diet to lose weight. Its not a good idea to follow any diet or cleanse that recommends drastically cutting calories, only eating one food, or cutting out entire food groups.

Like other fad diets, pineapple-based weight loss plans including the Sexy Pineapple Diet are not healthy ways to lose weight.

They involve significantly restricting calories and eating only pineapple for 27 days.

Not only are these methods unnecessary for weight loss, but they can result in unpleasant and even dangerous side effects.

When youre trying to lose weight, its best to avoid pineapple-based weight loss diets and other restrictive fad diets and instead focus on making healthy dietary and lifestyle modifications that can help promote weight loss in a safe way.

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What Is the Pineapple Diet, and Should You Try It? - Healthline

MEDFORD, Mass. More than nine in 10 American adults may want to think about skipping the summertime barbecues. A new study finds that less than seven percent of the nations adult population have what health experts consider good cardiometabolic health.

Researchers from Tufts University say this measure includes five key components of health: blood pressure, blood sugar, blood cholesterol, adiposity (being either overweight or obese), and the presence or absence of cardiovascular disease.

Using information on roughly 55,000 people over the age of 20, the results show just 6.8 percent of American adults reached optimal levels of health in all five categories in 2018. Moreover, the study found American health has been in steep decline over the last 20 years.

In 1999, one in three adults had healthy levels for adiposity, meaning they had a healthy weight and were not overweight or obese. By 2018, that number fell to just one in four Americans.

At the same time, three in five people were free of diabetes and prediabetes in 1999. By 2018, however, more than six in 10 adults had one of these conditions!

These numbers are striking. Its deeply problematic that in the United States, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, fewer than 1 in 15 adults have optimal cardiometabolic health, says Meghan OHearn, a doctoral candidate at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science, in a media release. We need a complete overhaul of our healthcare system, food system, and built environment, because this is a crisis for everyone, not just one segment of the population.

Instead of just looking for signs of disease, the team focused their study on the signs of good, moderate, and poor cardiometabolic health.

Disease is not the only problem, OHearn explains. We dont just want to be free of disease. We want to achieve optimal health and well-being.

Researchers also found large health gaps between U.S. adults of different genders, ages, ethnic backgrounds, and education levels. Specifically, the study found Americans with less education were half as likely to be in peak cardiometabolic health.

While there was a slight increase in the number of non-Hispanic White Americans reaching good cardiometabolic health between 1999 and 2018, study authors say those measures dropped off for Mexican Americans, other Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, and adults of other races.

This is really problematic. Social determinants of health such as food and nutrition security, social and community context, economic stability, and structural racism put individuals of different education levels, races, and ethnicities at an increased risk of health issues, says senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School.

Its important to note that this study used data coming from a period before the coronavirus pandemic a time where physical activity fell off significantly. Previous studies have shown that sedentary lifestyles during the pandemic have contributed to even further declines in health and fitness since 2020.

Not everyone in the study has passed the point of no return when it comes to their health. Researchers say many fall into the category of intermediate levels of health, meaning their cardiometabolic health is not optimal, but not yet poor. These individuals may be dealing with certain conditions including prediabetes, pre-hypertension, or they may be slightly overweight.

A large portion of the population is at a critical inflection point, OHearn adds. Identifying these individuals and addressing their health conditions and lifestyle early is critical to reducing growing healthcare burdens and health inequities.

Its impacts on national healthcare spending and the financial health of the entire economy are enormous, OHearn concludes. And these conditions are largely preventable. We have the public health and clinical interventions and policies to be able to address these problems.

The study is set for publication in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

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Fitness crisis? Just 7% of U.S. adults have good cardiometabolic health - Study Finds

Weight gain is a common problem that can happen as we age and after 40 losing stubborn belly fat does become more challenging, but not impossible. With the right mindset and healthy lifestyle choices, getting rid of excess weight around the waist can happen and Eat This, Not That! Health spoke with Megan Mescher-Cox, DO, Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Lifestyle Medicine and Obesity Medicine of Dignity Health Group who explained how to burn off belly fat after 40. Read onand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.

Cox explains, "It's harder to lose belly fat as we age for many reasons. Physiologically, our basal metabolic rate decreases but also because our daily habits are dramatically different as we age. The average child needs to play and move for hours daily, whereas the average adult spends most of the day in a more sedentary role with exercise as a built-in activity for 30-60 minutes daily. Our skeletal mass also decreases as we age, especially over 30-40 years old and this decreased skeletal mass is a large contributor to our metabolic rate."

"Intake of vegetables and fruits is associated with lower weights and less chronic disease," says Cox. "This includes diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol but also associated with less dementia and certain cancers. Vegetables and fruits are high in antioxidants which counter the oxidative stress that leads to aging."

According to Cox, "Sleep is critical for weight management and normalization of hormones in the body. This is when your body repairs from the day and when the body performs 'housekeeping' activities. Aim for 8 hours nightly. We can't "make up" for lack of sleep so it's especially important to get your body regular sleep all throughout your life."6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Cox reminds us, "Exercise is a great way to keep people feeling young but also for your body to physiologically function better. Aim for at least 30 minutes at least five days a week although an hour five times weekly is even better. If someone is having a difficult time with the presence of abdominal fat even with regular exercise, increasing the intensity of the activity will help with the stubborn pounds."

Cox states, "Independent of exercise, sitting all day is an independent risk factor for a shortened life span. Aim to get up for at least 5 minutes an hour or consider an under-desk bicycle to keep blood moving."

"Things that are ideal for your health are the typical: a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in junk food, regular exercise, regular sleep, not too much stress, and good healthy relationships," Cox emphasizes. "Aim for true lifestyle change, not a diet or exercise kick."

Heather Newgen

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Speed Up Belly Fat Loss in After 40 With These Proven Tips Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

The internet is rife with advice for keeping the brain sharp as we age, and much of it is focused on the foods we eat. Headlines promise that oatmeal will fight off dementia. Blueberries improve memory. Coffee can slash your risk of Alzheimers disease. Take fish oil. Eat more fiber. Drink red wine. Forgo alcohol. Snack on nuts. Dont skip breakfast. But definitely dont eat bacon.

One recent diet study got media attention, with one headline claiming, Many people may be eating their way to dementia. The study, published last December in Neurology, found that people who ate a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods like fruits, vegetables, beans and tea or coffee had a lower risk of dementia than those who ate foods that boost inflammation, such as sugar, processed foods, unhealthy fats and red meat.

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But the study, like most research on diet and dementia, couldnt prove a causal link. And thats not good enough to make recommendations that people should follow. Why has it proved such a challenge to pin down whether the foods we eat can help stave off dementia?

First, dementia, like most chronic diseases, is the result of a complex interplay of genes, lifestyle and environment that researchers dont fully understand. Diet is just one factor. Second, nutrition research is messy. People struggle to recall the foods theyve eaten, their diets change over time, and modifying what people eat even as part of a research study is exceptionally difficult.

For decades, researchers devoted little effort to trying to prevent or delay Alzheimers disease and other types of dementia because they thought there was no way to change the trajectory of these diseases. Dementia seemed to be the result of aging and an unlucky roll of the genetic dice.

While scientists have identified genetic variants that boost risk for dementia, researchers now know that people can cut their risk by adopting a healthier lifestyle: avoiding smoking, keeping weight and blood sugar in check, exercising, managing blood pressure and avoiding too much alcohol the same healthy behaviors that lower the risk of many chronic diseases.

Diet is wrapped up in several of those healthy behaviors, and many studies suggest that diet may also directly play a role. But what makes for a brain-healthy diet? Thats where the research gets muddled.

Despite loads of studies aimed at dissecting the influence of nutrition on dementia, researchers cant say much with certainty. I dont think theres any question that diet influences dementia risk or a variety of other age-related diseases, says Matt Kaeberlein, who studies aging at the University of Washington in Seattle. But are there specific components of diet or specific nutritional strategies that are causal in that connection? He doubts it will be that simple.

In the United States, an estimated 6.5 million people, the vast majority of whom are over age 65, are living with Alzheimers disease and related dementias. Experts expect that by 2060, as the senior population grows, nearly 14 million residents over age 65 will have Alzheimers disease. Despite decades of research and more than 100 drug trials, scientists have yet to find a treatment for dementia that does more than curb symptoms temporarily (SN: 7/3/21 & 7/17/21, p. 8). Really what we need to do is try and prevent it, says Maria Fiatarone Singh, a geriatrician at the University of Sydney.

Forty percent of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by modifying a dozen risk factors, according to a 2020 report commissioned by the Lancet. The report doesnt explicitly call out diet, but some researchers think it plays an important role. After years of fixating on specific foods and dietary components things like fish oil and vitamin E supplements many researchers in the field have started looking at dietary patterns.

That shift makes sense. We do not have vitamin E for breakfast, vitamin C for lunch. We eat foods in combination, says Nikolaos Scarmeas, a neurologist at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Columbia University. He led the study on dementia and anti-inflammatory diets published in Neurology. But a shift from supplements to a whole diet of myriad foods complicates the research. A once-daily pill is easier to swallow than a new, healthier way of eating.

Suspecting that inflammation plays a role in dementia, many researchers posit that an anti-inflammatory diet might benefit the brain. In Scarmeas study, more than 1,000 older adults in Greece completed a food frequency questionnaire and earned a score based on how inflammatory their diet was. The lower the score, the better. For example, fatty fish, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, was considered an anti-inflammatory food and earned negative points. Cheese and many other dairy products, high in saturated fat, earned positive points.

During the next three years, 62 people, or 6 percent of the study participants, developed dementia. People with the highest dietary inflammation scores were three times as likely to develop dementia as those with the lowest. Scores ranged from 5.83 to 6.01. Each point increase was linked to a 21 percent rise in dementia risk.

Such epidemiological studies make connections, but they cant prove cause and effect. Perhaps people who eat the most anti-inflammatory diets also are those least likely to develop dementia for some other reason. Maybe they have more social interactions. Or it could be, Scarmeas says, that people who eat more inflammatory diets do so because theyre already experiencing changes in their brain that lead them to consume these foods and what we really see is the reverse causality.

To sort all this out, researchers rely on randomized controlled trials, the gold standard for providing proof of a causal effect. But in the arena of diet and dementia, these studies have challenges.

Dementia is a disease of aging that takes decades to play out, Kaeberlein says. To show that a particular diet could reduce the risk of dementia, it would take two-, three-, four-decade studies, which just arent feasible. Many clinical trials last less than two years.

As a work-around, researchers often rely on some intermediate outcome, like changes in cognition. But even that can be hard to observe. If youre already relatively healthy and dont have many risks, you might not show much difference, especially if the duration of the study is relatively short, says Sue Radd-Vagenas, a nutrition scientist at the University of Sydney. The thinking is if youre older and you have more risk factors, its more likely we might see something in a short period of time. Yet older adults might already have some cognitive decline, so it might be more difficult to see an effect.

Many researchers now suspect that intervening earlier will have a bigger impact. We now know that the brain is stressed from midlife and theres a tipping point at 65 when things go sour, says Hussein Yassine, an Alzheimers researcher at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. But intervene too early, and a trial might not show any effect. Offering a healthier diet to a 50- or 60-year-old might pay off in the long run but fail to make a difference in cognition that can be measured during the relatively short length of a study.

And its not only the timing of the intervention that matters, but also the duration. Do you have to eat a particular diet for two decades for it to have an impact? Weve got a problem of timescale, says Kaarin Anstey, a dementia researcher at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

And then there are all the complexities that come with studying diet. You cant isolate it in the way you can isolate some of the other factors, Anstey says. Its something that youre exposed to all the time and over decades.

In a clinical trial, researchers often test the effectiveness of a drug by offering half the study participants the medication and half a placebo pill. But when the treatment being tested is food, studies become much more difficult to control. First, food doesnt come in a pill, so its tricky to hide whether participants are in the intervention group or the control group.

Imagine a trial designed to test whether the Mediterranean diet can help slow cognitive decline. The participants arent told which group theyre in, but the control group sees that they arent getting nuts or fish or olive oil. What ends up happening is a lot of participants will start actively increasing the consumption of the Mediterranean diet despite being on the control arm, because thats why they signed up, Yassine says. So at the end of the trial, the two groups are not very dissimilar.

Second, we all need food to live, so a true placebo is out of the question. But what diet should the control group consume? Do you compare the diet intervention to peoples typical diets (which may differ from person to person and country to country)? Do you ask the comparison group to eat a healthy diet but avoid the food expected to provide brain benefits? (Offering them an unhealthy diet would be unethical.)

And tracking what people eat during a clinical trial can be a challenge. Many of these studies rely on food frequency questionnaires to tally up all the foods in an individuals diet. An ongoing study is assessing the impact of the MIND diet (which combines part of the Mediterranean diet with elements of the low-salt DASH diet) on cognitive decline. Researchers track adherence to the diet by asking participants to fill out a food frequency questionnaire every six to 12 months. But many of us struggle to remember what we ate a day or two ago. So some researchers also rely on more objective measures to assess compliance. For the MIND diet assessment, researchers are also tracking biomarkers in the blood and urine vitamins such as folate, B12 and vitamin E, plus levels of certain antioxidants.

Another difficulty is that these surveys often dont account for variables that could be really important, like how the food was prepared and where it came from. Was the fish grilled? Fried? Slathered in butter? Those things can matter, says dementia researcher Nathaniel Chin of the University of WisconsinMadison.

Plus there are the things researchers cant control. For example, how does the food interact with an individuals medications and microbiome? We know all of those factors have an interplay, Chin says.

The few clinical trials looking at dementia and diet seem to measure different things, so its hard to make comparisons. In 2018, Radd-Vagenas and her colleagues looked at all the trials that had studied the impact of the Mediterranean diet on cognition. There were five at the time. What struck me even then was how variable the interventions were, she says. Some of the studies didnt even mention olive oil in their intervention. Now, how can you run a Mediterranean diet study and not mention olive oil?

Another tricky aspect is recruitment. The kind of people who sign up for clinical trials tend to be more educated, more motivated and have healthier lifestyles. That can make differences between the intervention group and the control group difficult to spot. And if the study shows an effect, whether it will apply to the broader, more diverse population comes into question. To sum up, these studies are difficult to design, difficult to conduct and often difficult to interpret.

Kaeberlein studies aging, not dementia specifically, but he follows the research closely and acknowledges that the lack of clear answers can be frustrating. I get the feeling of wanting to throw up your hands, he says. But he points out that there may not be a single answer. Many diets can help people maintain a healthy weight and avoid diabetes, and thus reduce the risk of dementia. Beyond that obvious fact, he says, its hard to get definitive answers.

In July 2021, Yassine gathered with more than 30 other dementia and nutrition experts for a virtual symposium to discuss the myriad challenges and map out a path forward. The speakers noted several changes that might improve the research.

One idea is to focus on populations at high risk. For example, one clinical trial is looking at the impact of low- and high-fat diets on short-term changes in the brain in people who carry the genetic variant APOE4, a risk factor for Alzheimers. One small study suggested that a high-fat Western diet actually improved cognition in some individuals. Researchers hope to get clarity on that surprising result.

I get the feeling of wanting to throw up your hands.

Another possible fix is redefining how researchers measure success. Hypertension and diabetes are both well-known risk factors for dementia. So rather than running a clinical trial that looks at whether a particular diet can affect dementia, researchers could look at the impact of diet on one of these risk factors. Plenty of studies have assessed the impact of diet on hypertension and diabetes, but Yassine knows of none launched with dementia prevention as the ultimate goal.

Yassine envisions a study that recruits participants at risk of developing dementia because of genetics or cardiovascular disease and then looks at intermediate outcomes. For example, a high-salt diet can be associated with hypertension, and hypertension can be associated with dementia, he says. If the study shows that the diet lowers hypertension, we achieved our aim. Then the study could enter a legacy period during which researchers track these individuals for another decade to determine whether the intervention influences cognition and dementia.

One way to amplify the signal in a clinical trial is to combine diet with other interventions likely to reduce the risk of dementia. The Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability, or FINGER, trial, which began in 2009, did just that. Researchers enrolled more than 1,200 individuals ages 60 to 77 who were at an elevated risk of developing dementia and had average or slightly impaired performance on cognition tests. Half received nutritional guidance, worked out at a gym, engaged in online brain-training games and had routine visits with a nurse to talk about managing dementia risk factors like high blood pressure and diabetes. The other half received only general health advice.

After two years, the control group had a 25 percent greater cognitive decline than the intervention group. It was the first trial, reported in the Lancet in 2015, to show that targeting multiple risk factors could slow the pace of cognitive decline.

Now researchers are testing this approach in more than 30 countries. Christy Tangney, a nutrition researcher at Rush University in Chicago, is one of the investigators on the U.S. arm of the study, enrolling 2,000 people ages 60 to 79 who have at least one dementia risk factor. The study is called POINTER, or U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk. The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the research organizers had to pause the trial briefly but Tangney expects to have results in the next few years.

This kind of multi-intervention study makes sense, Chin says. One of the reasons why things are so slow in our field is were trying to address a heterogeneous disease with one intervention at a time. And thats just not going to work. A trial that tests multiple interventions allows for people to not be perfect, he adds. Maybe they cant follow the diet exactly, but they can stick to the workout program, which might have an effect on its own. The drawback in these kinds of studies, however, is that its impossible to tease out the contribution of each individual intervention.

Two major reports came out in recent years addressing dementia prevention. The first, from the World Health Organization in 2019, recommends a healthy, balanced diet for all adults, and notes that the Mediterranean diet may help people who have normal to mildly impaired cognition.

The 2020 Lancet Commission report, however, does not include diet in its list of modifiable risk factors, at least not yet. Nutrition and dietary components are challenging to research with controversies still raging around the role of many micronutrients and health outcomes in dementia, the report notes. The authors point out that a Mediterranean or the similar Scandinavian diet might help prevent cognitive decline in people with intact cognition, but how long the exposure has to be or during which ages is unclear. Neither report recommends any supplements.

Plenty of people are waiting for some kind of advice to follow. Improving how these studies are done might enable scientists to finally sort out what kinds of diets can help hold back the heartbreaking damage that comes with Alzheimers disease. For some people, that knowledge might be enough to create change.

One of the reasons why things are so slow in our field is were trying to address a heterogeneous disease with one intervention at a time. And thats just not going to work.

Inevitably, if youve had Alzheimers in your family, you want to know, What can I do today to potentially reduce my risk? says molecular biologist Heather Snyder, vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimers Association.

But changing long-term dietary habits can be hard. The foods we eat arent just fuel; our diets represent culture and comfort and more. Food means so much to us, Chin says.

Even if you found the perfect diet, he adds, how do you get people to agree to and actually change their habits to follow that diet? The MIND diet, for example, suggests people eat less than one serving of cheese a week. In Wisconsin, where Chin is based, thats a nonstarter, he says.

But its not just about changing individual behaviors. Radd-Vagenas and other researchers hope that if they can show the brain benefits of some of these diets in rigorous studies, policy changes might follow. For example, research shows that lifestyle changes can have a big impact on type 2 diabetes. As a result, many insurance providers now pay for coaching programs that help participants maintain healthy diet and exercise habits.

You need to establish policies. You need to change cities, change urban design. You need to do a lot of things to enable healthier choices to become easier choices, Radd-Vagenas says. But that takes meatier data than exist now.

The rest is here:
How scientists are trying new ways to study diet and dementia - Science News Magazine

The best way to lose weight, believe me, is to eat less, said Boris Johnson as he defended the Governments food strategy after proposals for a salt and sugar tax were ignored.

With that believe me, the Prime Minister hit a nerve for serial dieters: which parts of the vast smorgasbord of advice out there should we be following to ensure our health and happiness?

Along with the recent introduction of calories onto restaurant menus, it can feel as if were being shamed into giving up food altogether.

For Professor Tim Spector, the Kings College London epidemiologist celebrated for his work with identical twins, as well as diet and the microbiome, all of the above represents a backward step in the public understanding of how humans respond to and process food.

For the past 100 years, weve been obsessed with calories, and it has really stopped us thinking about anything else, says the 63-year-old author of The Diet Myth and Spoon-fed. He has been working hard to change that thinking.

When The Diet Myth was published in 2015, few people had an inkling of the role that the estimated 100 trillion microbes in our gut play in our digestion. Spectors work has helped to put kefir in our fridges and kimchi in our jars. Via the Zoe Project, the worlds largest nutrition study, he has encouraged us all to join up and analyse our unique guts, blood fats and blood sugar responses.

Today, though, his number one myth target is that calories are a useful way to monitor our diet. Not only are calorie estimates often less accurate than we might hope, Spectors studies of twins have shown that humans vary hugely in how much energy they extract from a given food.

The daily allowances for men and women, Spector says, are not based on hard data. So I ask him: what should we be aiming for? Even asking the question, he says, gives credence to the idea that there is a perfect figure. If it was only 1,900, would that make a difference? No, it wouldnt.

And when people are told to avoid calorie-dense foods, Spector says that advice can be taken to be encouraging the consumption of low-calorie drinks and low-fat foods. Its why we support this multi-billion-pound diet industry of low-calorie shakes and Weight Watchers, and all that other stuff.

So, what other diet myths are we swallowing, according to Professor Spector?

Exercise does require energy, but our metabolism adjusts to that loss by storing more energy as fat the next time we eat.

Our body is programmed to keep our biology steady, known as homeostasis, so if our energy levels are drastically changed with lots more exercise and less food, our metabolism will respond by slowing the weight loss down and eventually put it back on very quickly when we go back to normal activity and food which is what we see in yo-yo dieters who put all the weight they initially lose back on. Saying that exercise alone is a good way to reach a healthy weight in the long-term is complete rubbish, Prof Spector says.

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11 of the most common diet myths, busted by Professor Tim Spector - The Telegraph

Some people use creatine and protein powder after exercise. Both supplements may aid in muscle recovery and enhance exercise performance.

Protein and creatine have different functions and may benefit some people. However, for best results, people need to take the correct dosage at the right time.

Creatine, an amino acid found in muscles, provides energy for various cell functions. It is most beneficial for shorter, high intensity workouts.

Protein powder is an easy way for people to quickly consume enough protein after workouts. Taking leucine-rich protein, such as whey protein, after exercise can help muscle recovery.

Read more to learn about the differences between creatine and protein, their benefits, and which one to take after working out.

Creatine and protein powder are two supplements that people can take for exercise performance and recovery.

Creatine is an amino acid that is naturally present in muscles. The body makes it from the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine. Additionally, people can get it by eating red meat, fish, and taking supplements.

During high intensity exercise, creatine provides energy and produces adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is an energy-storing compound that lives in body cells. Its breakdown provides energy for various cell functions, such as muscle contractions.

Some people who do high intensity exercise choose to take creatine as a supplement. It comes in different forms, with creatine monohydrate being the most common.

In the nutritional supplement market, people can find other forms, including:

Protein is a macronutrient that plays an important role in muscle growth and development. Most people consume their protein through food sources, such as:

Supplements are an easy way to increase protein intake, but they are not a replacement for food sources. However, they are a convenient form of high quality protein, especially if a person has a busy schedule.

Protein supplements usually come in powder form. A person can mix the powder with water or milk to make a protein shake, blend in smoothies or shakes, and add to cereals and baked goods.

There are multiple types of protein powder, including:

Plant-based types include:

Many athletes use creatine supplements for sports performance and exercise recovery. People can also use protein powder after workouts to promote muscle recovery.

Research has shown that creatine can increase lean muscle mass and exercise capacity, which is a persons maximum athletic ability. It works best when used with short, high intensity workouts.

Creatine can help improve specific aspects of exercise, so it may be useful for athletes in certain sports. For example, it may improve muscle recovery after performing a maximum-weight squat exercise. It can also improve power in anaerobic exercise and aid recovery after workouts.

Some people may also take protein powder after a workout to support muscle growth and recovery.

Research supports that taking quick digesting leucine-rich protein, such as whey protein, can optimize the production of proteins in the working muscles. Leucine is an essential amino acid that is important for protein synthesis.

Experts suggest that people who exercise regularly have higher protein requirements. Therefore, people who participate in regular physical activity may benefit from supplementing their diet with protein powder.

Both creatine and protein powder can help with muscle gain if combined with adequate training and a calorie surplus.

Complex training, which involves heavy-resistance exercises, is an effective method for developing muscle strength and power. However, they are also very strenuous, and a person can tire quickly.

Fatigue recovery is an important factor that affects exercise performance. Studies have shown that different creatine supplementation regimens may help lower muscle fatigue. Taking creatine after working out seems to be more beneficial than taking it before exercise.

Additionally, consuming protein after a workout can help recovery and muscle growth.

Some experts suggest that people who exercise for more than 3 months eat more protein. However, they also recommend resorting to supplements only if a person is not getting enough protein from their usual diet.

Taking low doses of creatine daily for 2830 days may help increase the amount of this amino acid found in the muscles.

In a 2021 study, participants took 3 gram (g) of creatine every day for 28 days. The researchers report that this regimen improved exercise performance. Experts also demonstrated that taking 20 g of creatine for 57 days leads to a similar increase in the amount of this amino acid in the muscles.

Other experts report benefits of taking a larger dose of creatine to start, followed by a lower dose.

An example of this regimen is taking 20 g per day for a short time, followed by a 5 g dose for 28 to 30 days. Most experts advise splitting the larger 20 g dose into multiple smaller doses.

Protein is an essential macronutrient, but people who exercise regularly need more than the recommended dietary allowance (RDA). The RDA for protein is 0.8 g per kilogram of body weight per day. Current evidence suggests that people who exercise for more than 5 months need between 1.52 times more protein than the RDA.

For optimal muscle protein synthesis after workouts, people should aim to consume 2025 g in the form of food or protein powder. Most commercial protein powders have about this amount in one scoop.

Creatine and protein supplementation may provide specific benefits that support certain types of training. In clinical studies, creatine may help people who practice heavy-resistance training.

People who exercise regularly require more protein than the recommended dietary allowance suggests. Before a person begins taking supplements, it is advisable to contact a doctor or registered dietitian.

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Creatine vs. protein: Which is better, post-workout, and more - Medical News Today

Chris Hemsworth takes his fitness and workout routine seriously. Getting into shape to play the God of Thunder in the Thor movies doesnt come easy. Neither does staying in shape. We know the diet that helped Hemsworth bulk up for Avengers: Endgame. He took things to another level for Thor: Love and Thunder, but he also has what he calls an 80-20 diet with cheat foods we can fully get behind.

Hemsworth once said there are three rules he follows to stay in shape year-round. Simply, exercise, diet, and sleep are all important to overall health, they all need to be respected equally, and one needs to remain committed to all three to stay in shape.

The Australian actor even created his own fitness app to help others achieve better health. App or no, Hemsworth adhered to a strict regimen to get in shape for Thor: Love and Thunder.

One of the questions that came up during a Wired Google autocomplete interview on YouTube was, Can Chris Hemsworth bench 300 pounds. The short answer is no (he prefers push-ups and dumbbell presses), but the actor admitted his training for Love and Thunder was very precise.

These days, for Thor: Love and Thunder, I think Im the biggest I ever was and probably in the best shape Ive ever been in, Hemsworth said. But that was very strategic, different exercises shaping my physique, and also a very specific diet. Bench press? Not a very big strength of mine.

During the same Wired segment, Hemsworth talked about his everyday diet, and if he was telling the truth, hes truly all of us when it comes to his favorite cheat foods.

One of Hemsworths three fitness rules is following a healthy diet. He eats plenty of lean proteins and vegetables but limits carbs. Combined with his workout routine, Hemsworths diet helps keep him in good health.

Still, it turns out the actor who plays the God of Thunder has a sweet tooth, and he lets himself indulge, as he told Wired:

But like anyone, you know, I have a sweet tooth. I have a real appetite and passion for pizza and burgers and ice cream and all the bad things, you know, but I try to give myself, you know, sort of an 80-20 rule. Eighty percent, 20% with the good being the 80 and 20% being the cheat meal, if you will.

Hemsworth lets himself indulge, but hes probably not eating a pound of chocolate for every five pounds of chicken breast, veggies, and rice he consumes.

Hemsworth starts eating almost as soon as he wakes up in order to maintain his Thor-like physique.

He starts his day with a plant-based shake or smoothie a couple of hours before eating a full breakfast. That breakfast usually includes a mix of protein, fiber, and complex (not refined) carbs. For example, multiple eggs with toast or oatmeal and some veggies. For lunch (and sometimes for dinner), the Aussie actor eats a substantial portion of meat-based protein balanced with veggies and starches, like a baked potato or rice.

Hemsworth often snacks before bed so he doesnt get hungry overnight. If that seems like a lot of food, it is, but he also burns calories with frequent workouts.

Hemsworths 80-20 diet, as he called it, involves a lot of thought on the 80%, and he works hard to earn the 20% cheat meals he loves so much.

For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheets YouTube channel.

RELATED: Chris Hemsworth Reveals the Greatest Challenge of Playing Thor, Which Is Also Part of the Fun

Originally posted here:
'Thor: Love and Thunder' Star Chris Hemsworth Is All of Us With His Cheat Foods in His '80-20' Diet - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The obesity epidemic isn't slowing down anytime soon, and new research delivers even worse news: Most American adults have not only gained more weight, but they gained most of it earlier in life.

The statistics were grim: More than half of Americans in the representative sample had gained 5% or more body weight during a 10-year period. More than one-third of Americans had gained 10% or more body weight. And nearly one-fifth had gained 20% or more body weight.

It got worse: People were gaining more substantial amounts of weight earlier in adulthood, thus carrying more of that extra weight for more years, researchers found.

This pattern was surprising, said study author Larry Tucker, a professor of exercise science at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City, Utah. "What people don't realize is that most of that weight, the actual gaining of weight, is highest at a younger age."

In the study, his team culled data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) on 10-year weight change patterns of more than 13,800 U.S. adults.

In 2000, about 30.5% of adult Americans were obese. By 2017-2018, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that about 42.4% of adult Americans had reached that weight.

Those extra pounds were packed on in early adulthood: The average American gained about 17.6 pounds from their mid-20s to mid-30s, the study found. Meanwhile, the average person gained about 14.3 pounds between their 30s and 40s, 9.5 pounds between their 40s and 50s, and 4.6 pounds between their 50s and 60s.

Women gained twice as much weight as men, 12 pounds, on average, compared to about 6 pounds. Black women had the greatest average weight gain over 10 years, about 19.4 pounds.

Reasons for the nationwide increase vary, Tucker said. The environment people live and eat in is far different from what it was 50 or 100 years ago. Obesity rates didn't start climbing until the late 1970s or early 1980s, he explained.

"That's because very rapidly a few things happened," Tucker said. "That's when fast food became prevalent. Before, people were more in control of what they ate. People sat down and had meals. People planned ahead. 'What are you going to eat? What are you having for supper tonight?'"

Picking up what is admittedly a tasty fast meal, but loaded with calories, makes it hard for a person to control what they're eating, he said.

"It takes a very conscientious person to work around that. I do this for a living and I'm lean, but it's because I'm very much aware of the situation," Tucker said.

The findings were published recently in the Journal of Obesity .

Dr. Ethan Lazarus, president of the Obesity Medicine Association, said he had not seen the issue of obesity studied in this way before.

"It definitely points to the idea that obesity is not an equal opportunity employer. It's unfortunately disproportionately affecting already marginalized groups with less access to care," noted Lazarus, who was not part of the study.

One reason for the greater impact on women may be that they have experienced more environmental changes than men have in the last five decades, with greater numbers in the workforce and also caring for families, he said.

"I think you see a lot published these days about higher levels of stress and lower amounts of sleep, and more time sitting and more time staring at computer screens," Lazarus said. "That's become the normal American job is to sit in front of a computer all day and then we get home and we're so tired all we can do is sit on the couch and play with the phone. It's like we're never unplugged."

Lazarus also pointed to the foods Americans eat, coming from a box with high quantities of sugar and little nutritional value, as a factor.

"What we look at as a normal diet in America, I think is fueling this epidemic," Lazarus said.

He suggested rethinking values of making money and working more hours and instead refocusing on personal health.

For those who are already living with obesity, the Obesity Medicine Association suggests healthy nutrition, counseling on physical activity and what it calls intensive lifestyle intervention, which addresses issues that lead to weight gain, such as stress, sleep deprivation and social events. A variety of new medications can also target obesity, Lazarus said.

For people with more advanced or more complicated obesity, there are surgical options, Lazarus said.

Tucker said he would like to see more education based on well-established principles of healthy eating from a young age, including not rewarding young people with food and encouraging fruits and vegetables.

"I think knowing at a young age with the medical community involved, with schools involved, we don't want people to become obsessed and think that their worth is in their weight," Tucker noted.

"That's not healthy, but at the same time, we want them to realize that it's hard to be healthy," he said. "It's hard to prevent diabetes. It's hard to prevent heart disease if people continue to gain weight and become obese."

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on overweight and obesity.

SOURCES: Larry Tucker, PhD, professor, exercise science, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; Ethan Lazarus, MD, president, Obesity Medicine Association, and physician, Clinical Nutrition Center, Greenwood Village, Colo.; Journal of Obesity, May 6, 2022

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Biggest Weight Gain Now Comes Early in Adulthood - WebMD