January 29, 2008 by admin.

There was an article in a recent issue of “Nutrition Action Health-letter” called “Surprise! Ten Myths That Can Trip You Up.”  As I share what I read with you in the next several blogs, think about whether you’re carrying around these myths, some of which are just downright unhealthy to believe.

1.  It’s okay for older people to be overweight.  While it’s a lovely thought that as we get older we can become heavier, which takes some of the onus off of us for maintaining our healthy high school weight, it isn’t a good idea.  There are just too many diseases that occur in overweight people - heart disease, diabetes, some cancers.  Not only that, as we get older we lose muscle mass.  So, even if you’re at your high school weight, I’ll bet that you had more muscle back then.  So, as we get older, it’s more about how much muscle we’re losing.  That’s why a body composition analysis is such a valuable measurement as compared to just weighing yourself.  When you see how much less muscle you have, you’ll begin to understand that as we get older, maintaining that mass is what we should be measuring.

2.  High-fructose corn syrup is worse for you than ordinary sugar.  This isn’t so.  That’s because high-fructose corn syrup is 50% fructose and 50% glucose, the same mix you find in ordinary sugar.  Your body’s reaction to it is no different.  The impact on blood sugar, insulin, ghrelin (a hormone that stimulates appetite), and leptin (a hormone that curbs appetite) are the same.  So what’s the bottom line?  Limit your intake of both products made with high-fructose corn syrup as well as ordinary sugar.  Just remember that both supply empty calories.  Fingers are being pointed at high-fructose corn syrup because it is one of the major sweeteners in soda and because people drink far too many, they’re getting for too many empty calories.  Studies have shown that people don’t compensate later in the day for all the calories they drank in sodas.

3.  If your “bad” cholesterol is low, your risk of heart disease is low.  You may be proud of the fact that your LDL-cholesterol (the lethal variety) is low, but that doesn’t mean that you’re free from any risks of heart disease.  As we age, LDL, triglycerides and blood pressure can go up.  Often, the high triglyceride or low HDL or a combination of both may be setting you up for heart disease.  It’s interesting that it isn’t the triglyceride itself that’s the problem.  It’s the protein carrier for triglycerides (also called VLDL or very-low-density lipoproteins) that clog arteries.  A triglyceride level of 150 or more means you’re at risk for the metabolic syndrome that increases your risk for diabetes and heart disease.  Having an HDL-cholesterol (the healthy variety) of less than 40 in men or 50 in women sets you up for metabolic syndrome.  Take your numbers seriously.  Always ask your doctor for a copy of your blood test records so you can be in charge of keeping track of how you’re doing.

You might want to visit my website at www.advantagediets.com and check out ways to eat healthier.

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January 22, 2008 by admin.

Okay, it’s a new year, a clean slate.  Let’s get with it.  Let’s make those New Year Resolutions happen.  The #1 resolution people always make is to lose weight.  Didn’t you make that resolution last year?  And the results?

Your goal of losing weight is a good one.  It’s the way you’ve tried to achieve your goal in the past that’s the problem.  I’ll bet you picked out the most “in” diet and figured if those people touting the diet were successful, why sholdn’t it work for you.  The reason “they” were successful was that they were approaching weight loss in a way that was comfortable for their personality type.  What if your personality type is different from theirs?  With 16 possible types based on the world-renowned Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, you may not be the same type as those successful losers. 

What you need is to learn what works for your type.  When you’ve found that out, you’ll realize that the right approach for you is NOT going on a diet but learning healthy new lifestyle habits to last you forever.

If you’re curious what your personality type is, visit www.advantagediets.com and read about type.  Then consider getting the book “Is Your Personality Type Making You Fat?”  It may be all you need to finally be on your way to fulfilling that New Year’s Resolution after all.

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December 10, 2007 by admin.

I read an article in the December 2007 issue of Wired magazine called “Getting a Grip”.  It was about the attempts scientists are making to create robots that can simulate human movement and activity.  But these are special robots.  They don’t just do repetitive movements such as you would see in a factory.  We’re talking here about robots that can respond to their environment.  When asked to retrieve an object, it will be programmed to such an extent that it not only recognizes what object has been requested of it to retrieve, but also have the ability to lift and hold the object as we would with our hands.  It will actually have to “think” and, as a child, through trial and error, learn what works and what doesn’t work.

So, y0u may be wondering what this has to do with kids.  As Gregory Mone shared in his article “Babies don’t just wander around alone, picking up strange objects and trying to figure out how they move…. Babies rely heavily on others to show them what to handle and how to handle it.”  It’s that dependency that eventually turns into independence.  Why are parents expecting their children to eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly if they, the parents, don’t act as good role models?  Nine times out of ten, if you see an overweight child, one or both of his or her parents are overweight.

Modeling is where parents set a good example for their children to follow.  One of the first places that should take place is at the kitchen table.  Family meals where healthy food choices are served shows children what their parents think are good for them.  It’s not a matter of forcing a child to eat all the food on his plate.  It’s a time for a child to see how much his or her parents serve themselves, whether they eat their meal at a relaxed and slow-pace, if they’re willing to leave something on the plate when they have reached that satisfied level, and so on.  Children are very good at doing what others do.  You know, ”monkey see, monkey do.”  Take advantage of that characteristic and all of you will be the healthier for it.

The same approach is being used by scientists to train their robots.  They give the robot a task to accomplish, first showing it how the task should be done.  The robot continues to do the task until it is done successfully.  It now knows what works and what doesn’t.   Think about teaching your children what it means to live healthfully as you would teach a robot.  Give them something to emulate.

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March 1, 2007 by admin.

There are thousands of members of the National Weight Registry, a group that was created to track who had successfully lost weight and kept it off and what method they used to be successful.  There were two major things these people did that they say helped them lose weight.  One was exercise.  They found it wasn’t enough to just decrease their calorie intake.  They needed to do some sort of exercise to burn off some calories, as well.  The second thing they did was keep a food diary.

Let’s face it.  When you have to write down everything you eat, you become much more aware of what you’re eating.  Keeping track of your food intake acts like your conscience.  If you’re really being honest with yourself and diligently tracking your food intake, you learn so much more about your eating patterns.

That’s why I created Drawing the Line on Calories, Carbs, and Fat.  As I say to users of it, “if you can connect the dots, you can draw the line.”  Visit my website at www.advantagediets.com to see what I’m talking about.  Most food diaries require you to write down the name of the food and then add and subtract calories and grams to know what you have left to spend for the day after eating.  Drawing the Line doesn’t require any of that.  With just a stroke of the pen, drawing a line between dots, you can keep track of what you’re eating and how much you have to spend for the remainder of the day.  The system does all the math for you.

 But what it really comes down to is whether you have the personality type that will enjoy keeping a food diary.  If you’re the organized, structured type, you’ll buy into the idea easily.  Have you ever taken the MBTI questionnaire to determine your type?  If not, you might want to find out more about personality typing at my website, www.advantagediets.com.  On the right hand side of the page is a link called “About personality typing.”  I’d love to hear what you think your type might be and whether you think you could keep a diary.  But I always say that to keep doing something, it better be fun and from many users of Drawing the Line, it is fun.

Posted in Personality Typing based on MBTI, FAQs, Health Tips | 1 Comment »