Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Soda: Are a couple of cans a day okay?
From YOU Docs Daily:
As readers of our blog likely know, one of us YOU Docs recently had a mega Diet Coke habit. Let's put it this way: Two six-packs a day was nothing. The other one (with his wife, Lisa) finally braved an intervention and got, yep, Dr. Mike down to one can a day. Last September he went to zilch. And lived! Now all he misses is the extra strength-training from shifting 20-pound cases of cola.
We mention this because chugging soda already looked bad when Dr. Mike laid off the stuff. Both regular and diet drinks had been tied to obesity and high blood pressure; colas to bone loss; and full-sugar sodas to type 2 diabetes, lousy teeth (especially citrus sodas), and more. Find out why zero-calorie sodas don't always have zero impact.
Now it turns out there's something in regular soda that's particularly bad for women. If you're female, listen up. New research shows that just two cans a day make you more likely to add inches to your waist, get into blood sugar trouble, have soaring triglycerides, and develop heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes — even if you don't gain a pound. Throw in kidney damage, too. It's also been tied to a soda habit.
This isn't the first evidence of these links, but it's the first to spot how vulnerable women are. Why? That's as clear as muddy waters. Maybe because women burn fewer calories than guys. Or replace more healthy foods with useless fizzy stuff. Or always eat sweets with soda. Or something no one's figured out yet.
Our New Year's wish? Pull a Dr. Mike: Switch to water (or caffeinated water), seltzer with fruit, hot/iced tea, or coffee (his fave), which is giving tea real competition as the world's number one health drink.
As readers of our blog likely know, one of us YOU Docs recently had a mega Diet Coke habit. Let's put it this way: Two six-packs a day was nothing. The other one (with his wife, Lisa) finally braved an intervention and got, yep, Dr. Mike down to one can a day. Last September he went to zilch. And lived! Now all he misses is the extra strength-training from shifting 20-pound cases of cola.
We mention this because chugging soda already looked bad when Dr. Mike laid off the stuff. Both regular and diet drinks had been tied to obesity and high blood pressure; colas to bone loss; and full-sugar sodas to type 2 diabetes, lousy teeth (especially citrus sodas), and more. Find out why zero-calorie sodas don't always have zero impact.
Now it turns out there's something in regular soda that's particularly bad for women. If you're female, listen up. New research shows that just two cans a day make you more likely to add inches to your waist, get into blood sugar trouble, have soaring triglycerides, and develop heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes — even if you don't gain a pound. Throw in kidney damage, too. It's also been tied to a soda habit.
This isn't the first evidence of these links, but it's the first to spot how vulnerable women are. Why? That's as clear as muddy waters. Maybe because women burn fewer calories than guys. Or replace more healthy foods with useless fizzy stuff. Or always eat sweets with soda. Or something no one's figured out yet.
Our New Year's wish? Pull a Dr. Mike: Switch to water (or caffeinated water), seltzer with fruit, hot/iced tea, or coffee (his fave), which is giving tea real competition as the world's number one health drink.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Walk during the day to sleep much better at night
From YOU Docs Daily:
We know we talk a lot about how important it is to get enough sleep and how vital it is to stay active. Here's a reason why: You can't have one without the other.
This news didn't rock our world. We've long known that exercise helps you sleep better. But that fact just got highlighted in neon pink, thanks to very specific data from a new study.
If you get more than 20 minutes (go for 30 minutes) of exercise a day, you won't just sleep better. You'll sleep much better, getting 65 percent more restorative REM sleep. You'll also have energy to burn and you’ll be more alert, which means you’ll be less likely to zone out during meetings and more likely to know what your spouse said to you 2 minutes ago. Bonus: If you're prone to leg cramps at night, you can likely kiss those goodbye. Pretty slick for just 20 minutes of walking! Go for 30 minutes. (Did we say that already?)
Other big benefits of getting 8 hours of sleep every night:
You can stop fantasizing about naps. (You won’t need them.)
You'll look better. "Beauty sleep" is for real. When you're sleep deprived, not only do you ooze fatigue, you also look measurably less attractive.
You'll be younger and healthier. Averaging less than 6 hours of ZZZs makes you prone to high C-reactive protein, a warning of aging and inflammation that threaten your heart, brain, and arteries in ways that invite cancer, arthritis, and diabetes.
You'll be slimmer. Sleep shortages stimulate your appetite, so you risk becoming tired and flabby.
Nighty-night.
We know we talk a lot about how important it is to get enough sleep and how vital it is to stay active. Here's a reason why: You can't have one without the other.
This news didn't rock our world. We've long known that exercise helps you sleep better. But that fact just got highlighted in neon pink, thanks to very specific data from a new study.
If you get more than 20 minutes (go for 30 minutes) of exercise a day, you won't just sleep better. You'll sleep much better, getting 65 percent more restorative REM sleep. You'll also have energy to burn and you’ll be more alert, which means you’ll be less likely to zone out during meetings and more likely to know what your spouse said to you 2 minutes ago. Bonus: If you're prone to leg cramps at night, you can likely kiss those goodbye. Pretty slick for just 20 minutes of walking! Go for 30 minutes. (Did we say that already?)
Other big benefits of getting 8 hours of sleep every night:
You can stop fantasizing about naps. (You won’t need them.)
You'll look better. "Beauty sleep" is for real. When you're sleep deprived, not only do you ooze fatigue, you also look measurably less attractive.
You'll be younger and healthier. Averaging less than 6 hours of ZZZs makes you prone to high C-reactive protein, a warning of aging and inflammation that threaten your heart, brain, and arteries in ways that invite cancer, arthritis, and diabetes.
You'll be slimmer. Sleep shortages stimulate your appetite, so you risk becoming tired and flabby.
Nighty-night.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Oatmeal, Cheerios, Cap'n Crunch . . . Which Cereals Are Healthful Breakfast Choices?
When was the last time that instead of, say, whole grain oatmeal or Cheerios, you gave your kids (or yourself) a bowl of sugar for breakfast? If this morning you poured Honey Smacks, Golden Crisps, Cap'n Crunch, or even seemingly healthful Quaker Oats Oh!s cereal, the answer is: today. All have 3 to 5 teaspoons of sugar per cup.
Find out why sugar's so hard on your body.
Okay, we know it's hardly news that kids' cereals are loaded with sugar, but that much? Yes, says a new analysis by the Environmental Working Group, which — insert round of applause – painstakingly sugar-rated 84 cereals. (See and download the full report.) If you weighed out 8 ounces of many kids' cereals on a kitchen scale, a third to half the weight would be sugar.
Happily, there's an upside to this story: There were some winners on the list -- healthy, tasty, 100% whole-grain cereals that kids will happily eat and you can buy at any grocery. Oatmeal, of course. We both eat heaps of steel-cut oatmeal. Just skip flavored instant types. They're sugar fiestas, too.
There are other good-morning choices that meet both federal guidelines and ours, which are tougher: Cheerios (another of our personal faves), Mini-Wheats, Shredded Wheat, Grape-Nuts Flakes and, somewhat surprisingly, Kix. Add bananas, blueberries, raisins, walnuts, diced apples, almonds . . . they're all good, though blueberries are rock stars.
Bonus: Eating fiber in the morning (fruit and 100% whole-grain cereals are full of it) curbs hunger later. That helps keep kids — and you — slim.
Find out why sugar's so hard on your body.
Okay, we know it's hardly news that kids' cereals are loaded with sugar, but that much? Yes, says a new analysis by the Environmental Working Group, which — insert round of applause – painstakingly sugar-rated 84 cereals. (See and download the full report.) If you weighed out 8 ounces of many kids' cereals on a kitchen scale, a third to half the weight would be sugar.
Happily, there's an upside to this story: There were some winners on the list -- healthy, tasty, 100% whole-grain cereals that kids will happily eat and you can buy at any grocery. Oatmeal, of course. We both eat heaps of steel-cut oatmeal. Just skip flavored instant types. They're sugar fiestas, too.
There are other good-morning choices that meet both federal guidelines and ours, which are tougher: Cheerios (another of our personal faves), Mini-Wheats, Shredded Wheat, Grape-Nuts Flakes and, somewhat surprisingly, Kix. Add bananas, blueberries, raisins, walnuts, diced apples, almonds . . . they're all good, though blueberries are rock stars.
Bonus: Eating fiber in the morning (fruit and 100% whole-grain cereals are full of it) curbs hunger later. That helps keep kids — and you — slim.
Monday, January 23, 2012
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