Before I start promoting the health benefits of drinking, I just need to stress that this refers to drinking light to moderate amounts of alcohol, and mostly drinking red wine. The RDA (recommended daily allowance) for alcohol is <1 drink/day for women and <2 drinks per day for men.
1 drink= 12 oz beer
8 oz Malt Liquor
5 oz Wine
1.5 oz 80 proof hard liquor
1 oz 100 proof hard liquor
Just thought I'd clear that up first.
Study findings show that a moderate or light amount of alcohol increases HDL cholesterol (aka good cholesterol), increases insulin sensitivity (which is also a good thing, more on this later), and lowers triglyceride levels (circulating fatty acid levels in the blood).
Red wine in particular has been shown to improve cardiovascular (your heart) health.
I will write more about the benefits on alcohol and chocolate, so get read to with your glasses of red wine and chocolate in hand to protect your heart.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Why I stopped
So, I stopped the Atkins diet and I wanted to say why. Completely eliminating a food group makes it very difficult to lose weight and specially to keep it off. Most of the weight that you lose is water weight. Carbohydrates hold on to a lot of water, and so when you stop consuming carbs, you lose all that water. You are not really burning that much fat and the weight loss is attributed to water.
I am all for eating healthy, more fruits and veges, and working out. You need at least 150 minutes/week of moderate physical activity to have benefits. So that is my mantra from now!
I am all for eating healthy, more fruits and veges, and working out. You need at least 150 minutes/week of moderate physical activity to have benefits. So that is my mantra from now!
Monday, February 20, 2012
* Special Note*
I just want to make something clear, whatever I talk about in this blog, whether it is about the Atkins diet, or about why you should eat breakfast isn't just me giving you baseless information. I have read research and articles about clinical trials that have been conduced about that particular topic. So if anyone is interested in knowing more about the research I will be more than happy to provide you with the research or give you the names of the researchers, journal name and date of publication.
I hate when people just lecture or preach without having a scientific background, so just wanted to make that clear.
I hate when people just lecture or preach without having a scientific background, so just wanted to make that clear.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Have been having crazy week! I started feeling very tired and got frequent headaches, possibly related to the no carbs or over stressing myself. So I have started eating a small amount of carbs, but I am staying away from refined carbs like white bread or white rice. If I do cook rice or pasta at home, it will be 100% whole wheat.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Why you should eat breakfast
I decided to talk about this issue of breakfast. People always say that you should never skip breakfast, but no one bothers explaining why, so I decided to take a stab at it.
There have been numerous research studies that have directly linked breakfast consumption with a lower BMI. Also, those who regularly eat breakfast tend to have an overall healthier lifestyle and consume healthy foods. The general composition of the diet also improves. By composition I mean overall increase in fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains, and a decreased intake of saturated fat, which constitue a healthy diet. If you eat breakfast, there is a decrease in overall caloric intake. Think about this for a second. When you skip breakfast, you just make yourself hungrier and hungrier as the day goes on. So by the time lunch rolls around, you are completely famished and end up eating a lot more than you would have had you eaten breakfast.
Breakfast consumption, specially eating whole grain foods, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Now, there is this very interesting research study that looks at ghrelin and breakfast consumption. Ghrelin is a hormone secreted by the cells in the stomach. It has been shown to increase appetite and food intake. It makes you eat more and makes you hungrier. So this study says they saw increased levels of ghrelin in those people who skipped breakfast.
So these are a few of the reasons why you shouldn't skip breakfast! Now its not just someone lecturing you, I have given you the scientific facts and research behind it.
There have been numerous research studies that have directly linked breakfast consumption with a lower BMI. Also, those who regularly eat breakfast tend to have an overall healthier lifestyle and consume healthy foods. The general composition of the diet also improves. By composition I mean overall increase in fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains, and a decreased intake of saturated fat, which constitue a healthy diet. If you eat breakfast, there is a decrease in overall caloric intake. Think about this for a second. When you skip breakfast, you just make yourself hungrier and hungrier as the day goes on. So by the time lunch rolls around, you are completely famished and end up eating a lot more than you would have had you eaten breakfast.
Breakfast consumption, specially eating whole grain foods, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Now, there is this very interesting research study that looks at ghrelin and breakfast consumption. Ghrelin is a hormone secreted by the cells in the stomach. It has been shown to increase appetite and food intake. It makes you eat more and makes you hungrier. So this study says they saw increased levels of ghrelin in those people who skipped breakfast.
So these are a few of the reasons why you shouldn't skip breakfast! Now its not just someone lecturing you, I have given you the scientific facts and research behind it.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Day 4
I finally went to the grocery store and got some free samples of turkey bacon. I thought it would be a good addition to my meals and its not as high in saturated fat as bacon.
So a lot of people think that going on this Atkins diet gives you the freedom to eat all the high fat meats like a steak with a lot of fat marbling or bacon or having fried chicken. I have been trying to stay on this diet without resorting to eat high-fat meats or cheeses because I think that would defeat this entire purpose. I've been enjoying my salads a lot and have been cooking chicken and fish and coming up with new recipes everyday.
So a lot of people think that going on this Atkins diet gives you the freedom to eat all the high fat meats like a steak with a lot of fat marbling or bacon or having fried chicken. I have been trying to stay on this diet without resorting to eat high-fat meats or cheeses because I think that would defeat this entire purpose. I've been enjoying my salads a lot and have been cooking chicken and fish and coming up with new recipes everyday.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Salads
Today is Day 4, but I don't want every post to be about what I ate everyday. So today I thought I'd talk about what I think about salads. I like salads. Really, I honestly do. But I hate making them at home. I used to buy lettuce, spinach, peppers, veges and even bought a low-fat Italian dressing to make myself salads for dinner. Here's the thing. Lettuce and spinach don't last long. You need to eat that gigantic bag of leaves in like 3 or 4 days. You need to be eating salad every single day or every single meal. Of course people get bored! Who would eat the same salad every day?
Also, it is so expensive to get all those other little ingredients like corn, scallions, carrots, roasted butternut squash, grilled chicken, more peppers, carrots, flax seeds, feta cheese, blue cheese.... You can see that this list will just go on and on.
So as I said, I love salads. Just hate making them myself. And today I did go to this awesome salad bar and made myself a huge salad for dinner. It was so delicious with lots of feta cheese, spinach, garbanzo beans.
A great meal idea, just not everyday
Also, it is so expensive to get all those other little ingredients like corn, scallions, carrots, roasted butternut squash, grilled chicken, more peppers, carrots, flax seeds, feta cheese, blue cheese.... You can see that this list will just go on and on.
So as I said, I love salads. Just hate making them myself. And today I did go to this awesome salad bar and made myself a huge salad for dinner. It was so delicious with lots of feta cheese, spinach, garbanzo beans.
A great meal idea, just not everyday
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Day 3
Today I found Atkins bars at the store. They are high-protein bars that have 1g sugar. I think these would be a good breakfast meal and I wouldn't have to wake up earlier in the morning to cook breakfast.
There are a lot of protein bars that are available, but most of them are usually high in sugar. Also, the ingredients used may not be the best option. It would always be better to eat real food but for those days when I need to wake up at 5:30am, I think I would much rather eat those bars.
Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with low-fat cheese
Lunch: Again at school, I made my own salad
Spinach salad with feta cheese, red bell peppers, grilled chicken in a low-fat Greek yogurt dressing.
Dinner:
Oven-baked chicken with spinach, ricotta cheese, zucchini and pesto.
Thoughts for the day? I think its doable. I know the first week is probably the worst. But I know it can be done. Just have to make sure to read food labels and make sure you don't eat more than 20g of carbs. My mood hasn't been affected yet. Not sure about next week though :)
There are a lot of protein bars that are available, but most of them are usually high in sugar. Also, the ingredients used may not be the best option. It would always be better to eat real food but for those days when I need to wake up at 5:30am, I think I would much rather eat those bars.
Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with low-fat cheese
Lunch: Again at school, I made my own salad
Spinach salad with feta cheese, red bell peppers, grilled chicken in a low-fat Greek yogurt dressing.
Dinner:
Oven-baked chicken with spinach, ricotta cheese, zucchini and pesto.
Thoughts for the day? I think its doable. I know the first week is probably the worst. But I know it can be done. Just have to make sure to read food labels and make sure you don't eat more than 20g of carbs. My mood hasn't been affected yet. Not sure about next week though :)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Day 2
Today I did manage to wake up early to make breakfast, but I do need to find some other solution. I love sleeping and I don't see myself waking up early everyday to make breakfast for myself. I will probably end up eating pistachios again, but skipping breakfast is not an option. In fact, recent research shows a direct link between skipping breakfast and an increase in BMI. So don't skip your meals!
I wanted to talk about why the Atkins diet might work. Your body cannot store unlimited amounts of glucose, so all that extra glucose is converted into fat and then stored. Your body can store unlimited amounts of fat and also does not store protein. The liver only stores about 1 day's worth of glycogen (the storage form of glucose). If you have starved yourself, or not had any glucose for 24 hours, all the liver's glycogen stores have been depleted. Protein becomes the major source that is broken down for glucose. Contrary to popular belief, fat cannot be broken down to make glucose. The fat or adipose tissue is degraded to make ketone bodies. Ketones are used as the primary fuel source for the body. This is why the Atkins diet does work, because your body breaks the fat down to make energy. But remember, your body is also breaking down a lot of protein (the conversion rate sucks), so keep eating protein too.
I usually like to know the why and how behind things. I don't want to accept something at face value without doing some research behind it.
Ok now back to what I ate today:
Breakfast- very proud of myself, I actually woke up at 5:30am to cook breakfast. Obviously don't see that happening a lot so will need to think of other ways.
I had scrambled eggs with low-fat cheese.
Lunch:
Again, I was at school so I ate a spinach salad with carrots and half of a boiled egg with 2 tsp. of low-fat Italian dressing. So here is a way you can cut carbs when you can't control the food that you are eating. I bought some chicken tortilla soup. This soup comes with tortilla chips, cheese, corn, tomatoes, black beans and chicken. What I did was, I didn't get the tortilla chips and cheese and didn't eat the corn. So you can always adjust your meals to reduce the carb count. Yes corn counts as carbs.
Dinner:
I went out with my friends. So I got a beer. Now beer does have a lot of carbs. I got a blue moon, which has 13.7g of carbs in the entire bottle. I didn't drink the whole thing, I had about 1/4 of the amount, so another way I reduced the amount of carbs too. If you are going to be strict about the diet, you need to be careful and read food labels.
I came back home and had a small salad with lettuce, beans, tomatoes, cheese and ham.
All in all a good day, and I am quite full from all the beans. Beans are high fiber, so that adds to the carbs but I wanted to modify this diet and add some high fiber vegetable sources.
I wanted to talk about why the Atkins diet might work. Your body cannot store unlimited amounts of glucose, so all that extra glucose is converted into fat and then stored. Your body can store unlimited amounts of fat and also does not store protein. The liver only stores about 1 day's worth of glycogen (the storage form of glucose). If you have starved yourself, or not had any glucose for 24 hours, all the liver's glycogen stores have been depleted. Protein becomes the major source that is broken down for glucose. Contrary to popular belief, fat cannot be broken down to make glucose. The fat or adipose tissue is degraded to make ketone bodies. Ketones are used as the primary fuel source for the body. This is why the Atkins diet does work, because your body breaks the fat down to make energy. But remember, your body is also breaking down a lot of protein (the conversion rate sucks), so keep eating protein too.
I usually like to know the why and how behind things. I don't want to accept something at face value without doing some research behind it.
Ok now back to what I ate today:
Breakfast- very proud of myself, I actually woke up at 5:30am to cook breakfast. Obviously don't see that happening a lot so will need to think of other ways.
I had scrambled eggs with low-fat cheese.
Lunch:
Again, I was at school so I ate a spinach salad with carrots and half of a boiled egg with 2 tsp. of low-fat Italian dressing. So here is a way you can cut carbs when you can't control the food that you are eating. I bought some chicken tortilla soup. This soup comes with tortilla chips, cheese, corn, tomatoes, black beans and chicken. What I did was, I didn't get the tortilla chips and cheese and didn't eat the corn. So you can always adjust your meals to reduce the carb count. Yes corn counts as carbs.
Dinner:
I went out with my friends. So I got a beer. Now beer does have a lot of carbs. I got a blue moon, which has 13.7g of carbs in the entire bottle. I didn't drink the whole thing, I had about 1/4 of the amount, so another way I reduced the amount of carbs too. If you are going to be strict about the diet, you need to be careful and read food labels.
I came back home and had a small salad with lettuce, beans, tomatoes, cheese and ham.
All in all a good day, and I am quite full from all the beans. Beans are high fiber, so that adds to the carbs but I wanted to modify this diet and add some high fiber vegetable sources.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Day 1
Today was my first day. Obviously I hadn't really thought this through and so hadn't planned my meals out. So here is what I ate:
Breakfast: Pistachios. I go to school and I was rushing in the morning and don't really have time to make elaborate meals. I am hoping tomorrow will go better. This diet requires getting up early and making breakfast :(
Lunch: Salad with chicken, avocado, gorgonzola cheese, lettuce, bacon, lettuce with low-fat Italian dressing. I ate at the school cafeteria so it was kind of difficult to find something to eat that didn't have carbs.
Dinner: Hummus with carrot/celery sticks. Salad with chicken, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, bell pepper.
Current mood: Excited but apprehensive
Breakfast: Pistachios. I go to school and I was rushing in the morning and don't really have time to make elaborate meals. I am hoping tomorrow will go better. This diet requires getting up early and making breakfast :(
Lunch: Salad with chicken, avocado, gorgonzola cheese, lettuce, bacon, lettuce with low-fat Italian dressing. I ate at the school cafeteria so it was kind of difficult to find something to eat that didn't have carbs.
Dinner: Hummus with carrot/celery sticks. Salad with chicken, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, bell pepper.
Current mood: Excited but apprehensive
The Crazy Idea
I decided to try the Atkins diet. I know, I think I'm completely crazy too, specially since I am someone who LOVES carbs! I have read a lot about this diet and have heard that its an easy and quick way to lose about 15-20lbs, but it is hard to keep the weight off. Once you go off the Atkins diet, you put on all that weight, and then some.
For those who don't know, the Atkins diet promotes elimination or severely restricting all carbs from your diet. It has shown to reduce a lot of weight but there are some side effects: being terribly moody, having no energy.
Since most people have a problem keeping the weight off, this is my proposed experiment for as long as I can tolerate no carbs. I want to lose the weight and in about 2 weeks, introduce high-fiber and whole grains into my diet slowly, so see if it will help me to maintain my weight without me wanting to kill someone (without the carbs). I will record my meals and any foods that I have consumed and also talk about how hard it is to keep up with the diet.
So here is the breakdown of the diet:
Phase 1: Allowed 20 grams of carbs per day. Just a point of reference, 1 slice of bread=15 carbs. This is going to be hard! Eat protein and healthy vegetables. Avoid fruits and sugars and of course, breads, pastas, rice.
Phase 2: Once you have lost the initial 20lbs, move on to phase 2, which is the ongoing-weight loss phase. Net carb is increased to 25-45 grams/day. Add berries and yogurt to your meals.
Phase 3: The Pre-maintenance phase. 50-70 grams/day carbs (Phew!) while still losing weight. Add fruits, legumes and some breads/pastas to your meal while keeping the carb count in check.
Phase 4:End of the diet!!! 75+ net carbs daily. This is where people usually have problems and end up eating too many carbs and gaining all that weight again.
Hope this works!
For those who don't know, the Atkins diet promotes elimination or severely restricting all carbs from your diet. It has shown to reduce a lot of weight but there are some side effects: being terribly moody, having no energy.
Since most people have a problem keeping the weight off, this is my proposed experiment for as long as I can tolerate no carbs. I want to lose the weight and in about 2 weeks, introduce high-fiber and whole grains into my diet slowly, so see if it will help me to maintain my weight without me wanting to kill someone (without the carbs). I will record my meals and any foods that I have consumed and also talk about how hard it is to keep up with the diet.
So here is the breakdown of the diet:
Phase 1: Allowed 20 grams of carbs per day. Just a point of reference, 1 slice of bread=15 carbs. This is going to be hard! Eat protein and healthy vegetables. Avoid fruits and sugars and of course, breads, pastas, rice.
Phase 2: Once you have lost the initial 20lbs, move on to phase 2, which is the ongoing-weight loss phase. Net carb is increased to 25-45 grams/day. Add berries and yogurt to your meals.
Phase 3: The Pre-maintenance phase. 50-70 grams/day carbs (Phew!) while still losing weight. Add fruits, legumes and some breads/pastas to your meal while keeping the carb count in check.
Phase 4:End of the diet!!! 75+ net carbs daily. This is where people usually have problems and end up eating too many carbs and gaining all that weight again.
Hope this works!
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