Omega 3s Linked to Lower Risk of Diabetes Complications

Eating oily fish may lower a person's risk for diabetes-related vision problems, study suggests

 

People who consume omega 3s may prevent a complication from diabetes that harms a person’s eyes and vision, according to a new study released Thursday.

In the report, published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, researchers looked at over 3,500 people in Spain with type 2 diabetes who were participating in a trial looking at the effects of keeping a Mediterranean diet. The people were followed for about six years.

The researchers found that the individuals who reported consuming at least 500 mg a day of a type of omega-3 fatty acids, which was the equivalent of eating two servings of oily fish a week, had a significant lower risk of diabetic retinopathy, which is a complication that can cause vision problems and even blindness.

The researchers didn’t look at why the omega 3s may have prevented the diabetes complication, but argue the anti-inflammatory effects of the unsaturated fats may be at play. Other research has suggested that the inflammation damping effects of omega 3s could aid heart health. Some researchers suggest the effects of omega 3s for some conditions may be overhyped. You can read more about the benefits and the debate here.

The new study is limited in the fact that the people in the study lived in Spain, where the Mediterranean diet is followed by many people and the diet has lots of documented health benefits due to being high in vegetables, fruits and healthy fats. Still, as Dr. Michael Larsen of the University of Copenhagen wrote in a corresponding editorial to the study, “[The study] provides food for thought for those who wish to fight the complications of diabetes by clever eating.”

He concludes, “It seems a safe bet now to spread one’s food intake to include the gifts of our oceans and forests, while we consider how they can be protected for future generations and wait for large and ambitious studies of the effects of diet on diabetic retinopathy.”

Source: time

Food Label Facts

Food labels are the mandatory printed information on food product packaging that allows consumers to know more about what they are purchasing. The content of this information is strictly regulated by the national government agency, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), in order to help consumers make choices and minimise misleading and deceptive claims.

Types of food labels
Product name: As basic as it may sound, the FSANZ requires the product name to be an accurate description of the product content. For example, an ‘Apricot yoghurt’ should contain apricot, if not it must be named ‘Apricot flavoured yoghurt’.

Use-by or best before dates: For health and safety purposes, food with “use-by” dates should be eaten before the printed date. However, food displaying “best before” dates may still be safe to consume after the date, although not at its best quality.

Nutrition content and health claims: Nutrition content claims are statements about nutrient content of a food (e.g. Low in fat). In contrast, health claims refer to a potential food–health relationship (e.g. reduces heart attack). Health claims are a common source of confusion and can often be misleading if the FSANZ Code is not observed.

Nutrition Information Panel (NIP): This useful Panel provides factual nutrition information such as energy, carbohydrate, fat and protein content, as well as any specified nutrient claims, in a standard format.

Common food labels – what do the terms mean?
Reduced/Light/Lite: Foods must contain 25% less of the nutrient specified than the original food of the same quantity.

Diet: Food must contain at least 40% less energy than the original food of the same quantity.

Good vs. Excellent source of fibre: A good source must contain at least 4g dietary fibre per serve, or at least 7g to be an excellent source.

Multigrain vs. Wholegrain: Multigrain products contain several types of grains but these can be refined which means that most of the nutrients are taken out. Whereas wholegrain products retain all the nutrients from the grain and so are a healthier choice. However, to claim to be a wholegrain food, it must contain more than 8g wholegrain per serve.

Low in cholesterol: Food must contain less than 10mg cholesterol per 100ml (or 20mg per 100g). But bear in mind that most cholesterol is manufactured in the body as a result of eating saturated and trans-fats rather than being found directly in food.

Low fat vs. Fat free: Food with less than 1.5g fat per 100ml (or 3g per 100g) are low fat. Fat-free food contains less than 0.15% fat.

Low salt vs. no added salt: Low salt food must contain less than 120mg sodium per 100ml or 100g, whereas ‘no added salt’ means it does not contained added salt or sodium compounds.

Low sugar: Food must contain less than 2.5g sugar per 100ml (or 5g per 100g).

No added sugar vs. Sugar free vs. Unsweetened: These three terms sound similar yet mean quite different things. Food with no added sugar must not have any sugar, honey, malt/malt extracts, concentrated or deionised fruit juice added. However this doesn’t mean zero sugar content as some foods contain sugar naturally. Sugar-free foods have zero sugar content but still contain artificial sweetener (e.g. xylitol) which may have a laxative effect when consumed in large quantities. Unsweetened foods have no added sugar as well as no sweetener.

Gluten free: Particularly useful for coeliac disease sufferers, this food must contain no detectable gluten or oats or related products or gluten containing cereals that have been malted.

HINT: Some foods labeled fat free may be high in sugar and vice versa so don’t assume they are the healthy alternative. Always read your NIP!
Special Labels
Organic vs Certified Organic: Organic foods imply that the food product is grown or produced without using chemicals (e.g. pesticides), with no genetically modified organisms and no exposure to irradiation. However, as there are no regulations in Australia to govern the use of the word ‘organic’, consumers should look out for the ‘certified organic’ label. To receive certification manufacturers must adhere to the regulations and principles governed by the National Australian Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Products.

Heart Foundation Tick: A Heart Foundation Tick indicates the food is a National Heart Foundation endorsed ‘healthier choice’ when compared to similar products. Criteria for the Tick is very strict and require the product to be low in total, saturated and trans-fat, low in sodium, low in energy density and have appropriate serving sizes. They also consider whether a sufficient amount of dietary fibre, wholegrains, vegetable ingredients, protein, and calcium for soy and dairy alternatives are included.

For more information, visit the Food Standards Australia New Zealand, the National Heart Foundation, Grains and Legumes Nutrition Council and Better Health Channel websites.

Comparing products
When comparing two similar products, the Nutrition Information Panel is the most important part of the label to look at. Nutrients are listed per serving size and per 100g or 100ml. As serving sizes differ between products, the general rule is to compare using the 100g or 100ml column.

Although food labels can help you make healthy choices, the best and freshest food such as fruit and vegetables don’t come with any labels. So remember to include them in your diet too.

Source: healthylife

Six Easy Swaps For A Healthy Life

According to a Duke University study, habits form about 45% of your total behaviour. It's easy to introduce healthier alternatives into your diet. Try these simple swaps and before you know it, you'll be on a path towards a healthier life.

 

SUGAR
Swap processed sugar for coconut sugar, rice malt syrup or stevia.
Love Organic Coconut Sugar is rich in vitamins and minerals, while Organic Road Rice Malth Syrup is great if you are after a completely fructose free option.

RICE
Swap out your white rice for brown rice.
Brown rice still has the husk intact, meaning you'll increase your fibre intake.
Brown rice retains the B vitamins and minerals that are lost when the husk is removed, and has a lower GI than white rice.

PASTA
Swap spaghetti for zucchini noodles.
Look for high nutrient content, and be mindful of rich energy dense foods.
You can make zucchini noodles with a julienne slicer and enjoy either raw or slightly cooked.

BREAD
Swap your sandwich bread for a large iceberg lettuce leaf.
Pack it with all your favourite sandwich fillings. Enjoy a serve of veg minus the mid afternoon blood sugar slump.

FLOUR
Swap out your white rice for brown rice.
Brown rice still has the husk intact, meaning you'll increase your fibre intake.
Brown rice retains the B vitamins and minerals that are lost when the husk is removed, and has a lower GI than white rice.

WATER
Swap plastic drinking bottles for stainless steel.
Cheeki Stainless Steel Water Bottles don't retain or impart flavour and are better for you and the environment.
Source: healthylife

10 Ways to Beat the Low-Carb Flu

 The low-carb flu is real and it’s terrible. While it doesn’t kill as many as the Spanish flu of 1918 did or inspire the amount of panic seen during the 2009 swine flu epidemic, low-carb flu has dissuaded millions of people from pursuing and sticking to a healthy diet. You can laugh now that you’re fat-adapted and humming along on stored body fat, but you’ve forgotten just how terrible the transition from sugar-burning to fat-burning can be. Do any of the following symptoms sound familiar?

Crippling headaches.

Brain fog so thick you almost welcome the headaches for cutting through it.

Malaise, fatigue, listlessness, and other synonyms for “exhaustion.”

Lightheadness and dizziness.

Irritability.

A sense of impending doom that you suspect would give way to bliss if only you’d have some ice cream.

At some point, you’ll just have to accept the reality of the situation: you’re shifting from a sugar-burning metabolism to a fat-burning metabolism. You’re building the metabolic machinery necessary to burn fat. You’re updating your body’s firmware, and it’s a big update (coincidentally, this is why I recommend plugging into a power source for the duration). That takes time. If the results of one study are representative, it takes about five days on a low-carb, high-fat diet to increase AMPK and start building new fat-burning mitochondria. And sure enough, most people report that the low-carb flu lasts from 4-7 days—right on target.

But that doesn’t mean we have to like it. So, what can you do to speed up the transition and/or reduce the pain and suffering?
 
1. Eat fatty fish or take fish oil

One theory is that low-carb flu is caused by the release of stored arachidonic acid from adipose tissue. Since AA is the precursor to inflammatory molecules implicated in headaches, a sudden rush of AA into the blood—as happens in obese and overweight people during initial weight-loss—could be responsible. If this is true, taking extra fish oil or eating fatty fish like sardines or salmon should counter the omega-6-induced inflammatory response triggering the headaches. If this isn’t true, eating fish is still a good idea.

2. Don’t skimp on salt

Going low-carb increases salt requirements on multiple levels. First, when your body dumps glycogen, it doesn’t just dump the water that accompanies it. You’re also losing tons of sodium. Second, a byproduct of low insulin is reduced sodium retention, so you’re both losing and failing to hold on to it. Third, going on a Primal eating plan inevitably entails eating more fresh food and less unprocessed food. Unprocessed food is usually low-salt; processed food often comes with added salt. Nothing a little extra salt can’t fix.

Add salt to taste. Drink salty bone broth (Peter Attia likes bouillon dissolved in hot water, but I prefer the real stuff). Sprinkle a little salt in your water.

3. Eat enough potassium

You also lose potassium when you go low-carb and dump all that water weight. To replenish your stores, Use Lite-Salt (a potassium salt) along with your regular salt, and eat lots of non-starchy green vegetation, like spinach. Other great potassium sources include avocados and yogurt (if you get real yogurt, the bacteria have consumed most of the sugar).

4. Take magnesium

Although losing water doesn’t really flush out magnesium like it does other electrolytes, we do need extra magnesium to regulate sodium and potassium levels in the body. Leafy greens like spinach (again) are great sources of magnesium, as are most nuts and seeds. I just found a sack of sprouted watermelon seeds at Costco that give you 35% of the RDI for magnesium per ounce. Even though low-carb and sweeteners don’t usually mix, I’d say the huge amount of magnesium in blackstrap molasses makes a tablespoon worth adding.

You may have to dip into the supplement bin for this one. Any magnesium ending in “-ate” will do: glycinate, citrate, malate, etc. And once again, it’s one of those cases where almost everyone can probably use extra magnesium regardless of their current diet. It’s simply a good nutrient to have.

5. Stay hydrated

People tend to focus on the electrolytes you lose with water loss, but there’s also the water. If you’ve ever been dehydrated, you know the symptoms—dizziness, fatigue, mental confusion—match those of the low-carb flu. Pay attention to your thirst and get yourself a good source of mineral water with a TDS of at least 500 mg/L (or make your own using Trace Mineral drops), like Gerolsteiner, to boost your intake of minerals that may be lost to water shedding. Don’t drink healthy-sounding things like reverse osmosis water without remineralizing it.

6. Eat more fat

The study I cited earlier in which a low-carb, high-fat diet increased AMPK had another experimental group who also experienced AMPK upregulation: lean adults given a bunch of fat to eat. It turns out that both carbohydrate restriction and fat feeding can increase AMPK activity. In both instances, the amount of fat available for burning increases. By supplementing your endogenous fatty acids (the stuff coming off your body fat) with exogenous fatty acids (fat you eat), you can maximize the AMPK activation and, hopefully, speed up the adaptation process. You may not lose as much body fat this way, but you’ll be happier, less fatigued, and more likely to stick with the diet.

7. Include some medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) in that fat

MCTs are treated differently than other fats. Rather than store them in the body fat or use them in cell membranes, the body sends them directly to the liver for burning or conversion into ketones. So a good percentage of the MCTs we eat become ketones, which provide some additional fuel to glucose-deprived bodies that haven’t quite adapted to a fat-based metabolism. Coconut fat is the natural source of MCTs, though only about 14-15% of the fatty acids in coconut oil are MCTs. If that’s not giving you the boost you need, MCT oil is an isolated source of the ketogenic fatty acids. You can go even further and get just caprylic acid-based MCT oil, which isolates the specific fatty acid with the most ketogenic potential.

8. Consider ketone supplements

Part of the low-carb flu comes down to poor energy availability: when you take away the energy source you’ve been relying on all your life, it takes awhile to feel normal. Similar to MCTs but more so, ketone esters “force” ketone availability. And while I’m skeptical of taking large amounts of supplemental ketones on top of a high-carb diet (so are others), I can imagine them helping the newly low-carb speed up the adaptation process and overcome the low-carb flu.

9. Move around a lot at a slow pace

If you haven’t read Primal Endurance, consider grabbing a copy. It really fleshes all this out. But long story short? Hold off on the extended sugar-burning training—long CrossFit WODs, long hard endurance efforts, 30 minute interval workouts, P90X—until you’re fat-adapted. Do some intense stuff, but keep it really intense and brief. Short 2-5 rep sets of full body lifts, brief 5-10 second sprints (with plenty of rest in between), things like that. The bulk of your training should consist of easy movement keeping your heart rate in the fat-burning zone (180 minus your age) until you’re adapted and the low-carb flu has abated. Hikes, walks, light jogs, cycling, swimming are all great depending on your level of fitness, and they’ll jumpstart the creation of new fat-burning mitochondria to speed that process up.

10. Reduce carbs gradually

The vocal ones, the people who post on message boards and leave comments and submit success stories, are generally going to be more extreme. They’re going from 400 grams of carbs a day to 40 grams. They’re going all in. They’re going cold turkey (literally: they’re eating entire meals consisting entirely of cold turkey to avoid carbs). That doesn’t work for everyone.

Another option, and one that might work even better for most people, is to gradually reduce carbs. By reducing carbs more gradually you reduce the shock to your system and give your body the chance to find its sustainable sweet spot. You might do best on 150 grams a day (that’s about where I am, in fact). You might like 120, or 130, or 70. The point is going gradually allows you to take a journey through all the possible permutations of carb/fat/protein intake. It’s quite possible that 140 grams a day works best for you, but because you immediately launched into a very low-carb 20g/day diet and failed miserably, you’re turned off from the idea altogether.
Source:  marksdailyapple

‘Female Viagra’ Doesn’t Work Very Well: Study

Flibanserin, approved last year to treat low sexual desire in women, is linked to only a very slight increase in sex

 


The so-called “female Viagra” drug isn’t showing impressive results, suggests a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Last August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug flibanserin to treat low sexual desire in premenopausal women. The drug was the first to be given the green light for treatment of the condition in women, called hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or HSDD. Researchers in the Netherlands conducted a review on flibanserin to see how safe and effective it was, analyzing eight clinical trials in all: five published and three unpublished. Even though the studies in total looked at almost 6,000 women, the researchers caution that the quality of evidence is “very low”: the studies weren’t very detailed, they write, and the drug looked better in the findings of published studies compared to studies that were not published.

According to the results, the drug didn’t enhance most women’s sex life all that much, nor did it meaningfully increase the frequency of their sexual encounters. Taking the drug was associated with just one-half of an additional satisfying sexual event each month. It was also linked to a higher risk of sleepiness, dizziness, fatigue and nausea.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures flibanserin under the name Addyi, provided a statement from the company’s Chief Medical Officer Tage Ramakrishna, MD, saying that trials to secure FDA approval showed a statistically significant increase in satisfying sex. “It is crucial that women suffering from HSDD are able to speak to their physicians about the full range of options—including medical treatment—to manage this serious and well-established condition,” Ramakrishna says. “Analyses such as the one published in JAMA Internal Medicine, by omitting context and downplaying the importance of increased sexually satisfying events to those with HSDD, makes that conversation more difficult.”

More research is needed, the authors of the study say. “The data presented in this review suggest that the meaningful change caused by flibanserin is minimal,” they write.

Source: time

Recipes for healthy teens

The teenage years marks one of the greatest periods of change during our lifetime – physical, emotional and intellectual changes in particular. Physical changes include the final 15-20% of growth in height and 50% of adult body weight. This rapid growth increases the body’s demand for energy and nutrients including iron, zinc and calcium.

 

It is important that teenagers make nutritious food choices so they can satisfy both their hunger and increased nutritional needs. Eating the right foods in the right amounts at the right times will assist with their energy levels, keep their brain alert and help the body to cope with stress. Preparation is key to help teenagers make good decisions on what they eat. Here are some great ideas and recipes to help.

Healthy snack options to stock up for hungry teens:
 
• Fresh seasonal fruits
• Wholemeal/wholegrain bread
• All natural nut butters such as almonds or cashew spread
• Baked beans (in single serve tins)
• Natural cheese (avoid heavily processed cheese single slices)
• Dried fruit and/or nut mixes
• Dips such as hummus or tzatziki – with carrot or celery sticks ready
• Yoghurt tubs – source of calcium for healthy bones
• Tuna or salmon in cans (opt for those in natural spring water)
• Muesli bars (avoid sugar loaded yoghurt topped varieties)
• Portioned homemade soup – for the colder months

Tahini balls - makes 30 x 20g balls

Ingredients
1/2 cup tahini
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup LSA (a combination of linseed, sunflower seed and almond which is made into a ground meal)
3/4 cup dried apricots, cut into pieces
1/4 cup cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pistachios, or other nuts

Method
1. Mix all ingredients together to make a stiff mixture. Use more coconut if necessary.
2. Using a teaspoon, roll into small balls and roll in coconut to coat.
Each ball has 337kJ or 80 calories.

Quick & easy muesli bars - makes 25 squares

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup sultanas
1/3 cup dates, chopped
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup sunflower kernels
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3/4 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
400g can of skim condensed milk

Method
1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
2. Line a 25cm (10 inch) square or similar sized rectangular tin with non-stick baking paper.
3. Place all ingredients except condensed milk in a large bowl and mix until well combined.
4. Pour condensed milk into a heavy based saucepan (as it is less likely to catch on the bottom) and heat over a low light, stirring constantly, until warmed through.
5. Pour warmed condensed milk into dry ingredients and mix through until well coated.
6. Spoon into prepared tin and press down as evenly as possible.
7. Bake in oven for approximately 45 minutes. After 30 minutes, check that it isn’t going too brown on top. If it is, cover with foil and continue baking further 15-20 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and leave to cool for about 20 minutes.
9. Remove from tin and cut into squares while still warm. Leave to cool completely. Store in an air-tight container.
Each 5x5cm square has 611kJ or 146 calories.

Mini pizza - makes 1 serve

Ingredients

1 wholegrain English-style muffin
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp pesto
2-3 small bocconcini cheese, sliced (or other low fat cheese)
4 Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
4-6 baby spinach leaves

Method
1. Seperate muffin in half and lightly toast in toaster
2. Mix together tomato paste and pesto, then spread over muffin.
3. Sprinkle with spinach leaves, then cheese and dot with olives.
4. Place under grill for 2-3 minutes until cheese starts to melt and bubble.
Each serve has 945kJ or 225 calories.
Source: Healthylife

20 Things Only a Mother of Twins Would Understand

1. The look on your partner’s face when the doctor tells you there are two in there.

2. And the smell of alcohol wipes once you’ve come to after hearing the news.

3. Getting asked, “Any day now?” when you’re 26 weeks along.

4. Having 12 strangers in the delivery room with you — not including your family and friends.

5. Trying to hush one screaming baby while the other one has just fallen asleep, and attempting to utilize two white noise machines to fade the noise.

6. Having a dollar for every time someone asks, “Are they twins?” Nope, just two babies that are the same exact age, being pushed around in a double stroller.

7. Knowing that the phrase “never wake a sleeping baby” was coined by someone who doesn’t have twins.

8. How to prop two babies in their chairs to eat while eating your own lunch — on the ground.

9. When strangers at the grocery store ask you if they’re “natural.”

10. Costco.

11. Being asked if your boy/girl twins are identical. No, they are not.

12. Barely being able to hold in your laughter when a parent of an only child tells you they don’t have time to take a shower.

13. Babies crying in stereo on your video monitor.

14. The double football hold.

15. Tripping over every baby swing, bouncer, and vibrating chair you have set up in virtually every room in your house.

16. The exact amount of groceries you can fit in the basket underneath your double stroller.

17. “Crying it out” isn’t always a parenting choice, but a survival mechanism.

18. Having more baby bottles on your dish rack than plates.

19. The amount of wine you want to drink once you’ve finally gotten both babies to bed.

20. The expression “you’ve got your hands full.”

Source: Healthline