Health & Wellbeing

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    Emma’s Empirical Evidence (part 4) – Weight loss: part B

Emma’s Empirical Evidence (part 4) – Weight loss: part B

In this 6-part series, I look into some recent science in the field of health and wellness. As a clinical naturopath I read so much research and want to share with you some highlights. Happy Reading!

 
Nutrition is more important than exercise for weight loss
Yes, they are both important. But what you eat plays more of a role in your weight than how much you exercise. Studies that have pitted exercise against diet have shown that participants tend to lose more weight by dieting alone than by exercise alone.
Reference: Foster-Schubert KE, Alfano CM, Duggan CR et al. (2011) Effect of diet and exercise, alone or combined, on weight and body composition in overweight-to-obese post-menopausal women. Obesity (Silver Spring). August; 20(8): 1628–1638.

Exercise is still vital for a healthy metabolism
While exercise may not be as important for weight loss as calorie restriction, it’s important in another way: it begins to repair a broken metabolism.
Bed-rest studies conducted by NASA indicate that within a couple of days of non-activity, the metabolism becomes ‘inflexible’. Metabolic flexibility is the ability of the human body to switch from one fuel source to the next: from fats to carbs and carbs to fat.  When you have a flexible (healthy) metabolism, your body efficiently burns whatever kind of food you eat.
Reference: Jost PD. (2008). Simulating human space physiology with bed rest. Hippokratia, 12(Suppl 1), 37–40.

Your brain controls your weight loss or gain
When it comes down to it, it’s not the body or the metabolism that are actually creating overweight or obesity – it’s the brain. Over time, poor decisions lead to significant changes in how the brain governs – and responds to – the hunger and satiation processes.
The good news? By developing new habits, […]

By |July 31st, 2015|Health & Wellbeing, Research, Weight Loss|0 Comments
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Emma’s Book Boosters: For Self-Help & Psychology

 
Why is it Always About You? The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism
Narcissism can range from a healthy trait to one that is pathological. I have a highly destructive narcissist in my life and this book helped me to understand how to deal with him. Written by experienced psychotherapist Sandy Hotchkiss, this book guides you through the seven main traits of narcissists and gives you tangible tools you can easily implement. If you have a destructive narcissist in your life then this book is your bible.

 

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By |July 29th, 2015|Book Reviews, Health & Wellbeing|0 Comments
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    Did you know WHEN you eat is more important than WHAT you eat?

Did you know WHEN you eat is more important than WHAT you eat?

Key message: Confining kilojoule consumption to an eight-to-12 hour period – as past generations did – might stave off high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity.

Action point: If you want to lose weight in a healthy way, join me for my next Community Cleanse, kicking off August 23rd.. Time-restricted feeding is included in Level 2 of Cleanse and I will give you not only menu plans but also an eBook with easy step-by-step instructions. http://www.emmascommunitycleanse.com.au/
 

Do you believe that the only reliable way to lose weight is to make sure calories ‘out’ are greater than calories ‘in’?

Well, think again. Recent research by The Salk Institute for Biological Studies suggests that how many calories you eat is not as important as when you eat them.
Time-restricted feeding
Back in 2012, researchers found that most of the health problems mice get from eating a high-fat diet could be eliminated if they only ate during an eight-hour period. Mice given all-day access to the same food consumed the same number of calories but were much fatter and in poorer health 1.

Now researchers from the same lab have found that restricting the time of day when you eat has the potential to offer additional and substantial health benefits. When you eat can even reverse obesity and diabetes, at least in mice.

To further explore the possible therapeutic potential of time-restricted feeding (TRF), recent Salk research applied a number of time-restricted feeding/fasting regimes, including a totally free feeding regime, to a number of different situations. This included where the subject mice suffered pre-existing obesity, where the diets were varied – eg high fat, high fructose and high fat plus high fructose – and where the duration of feeding time was varied 2.

The researchers confirmed the […]

By |July 25th, 2015|Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss|0 Comments
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Probiotics Can Put A Smile on Your Dial

A study epublished in April 2015 reports that probiotic supplementation improves negative thoughts accompanying sad mood. The National Institute of Mental Health states that an estimated 16 million American adults (6.9%) had at least one major depressive episode in the past year with an additional 1.5% experiencing a milder form of depression known as dysthymic disorder.
In this triple-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, 40 subjects without mood disorders received supplementation for four weeks with a placebo or a multi-species probiotic, which included Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus salivarius, and Lactococcus lactis. The investigators evaluated cognitive reactivity to sad mood using the Leiden index of depression sensitivity scale at the beginning of the study and again after the supplementation period. Increased cognitive reactivity to normal, temporary alterations in sad mood is considered to be an indicator of how susceptible a person is to depression.
The subjects in the probiotic group experienced a significantly reduced overall cognitive reactivity to sad mood compared to the placebo group. The reduced overall cognitive reactivity was accompanied by less rumination and fewer aggressive thoughts.
The study authors stated, “These results provide the first evidence that the intake of probiotics may help reduce negative thoughts associated with sad mood. Probiotics supplementation warrants further research as a potential preventive strategy for depression.”
Reference:
Steenbergen L, et al. Brain Behav Immun. 2015 Apr 7

By |July 22nd, 2015|Gut health, Health & Wellbeing, Naturopathy, Preconception & Pregnancy, Research|0 Comments
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The hidden way that junk food is making you fat

Key message: Junk food can destroy the good gut microbes in your body that help you keep thin.

Action point: Restrict your intake of fast foods and include foods in your diet that encourage the growth of good gut bacteria. These include yogurts, root vegetables, nuts, olives and high-fibre foods.
 
Want another reason to not eat junk food? New research shows fast food kills off the bugs that make you thin.
Leading academic and author of the new book The Diet Myth: The Real Science Behind What We Eat, Professor Tim Spector believes he has uncovered a vital piece of the puzzle that could help explain our rising obesity epidemic.

Spector, who is professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, researches the link between microbes, food and health.

During his research, he experimented with several unusual diets and recorded their effects on gut microbes. In one experiment, he enlisted the help of his son, Tom who agreed to a diet of fast food, including sweetened carbonated beverages, for 10 consecutive days. The researchers then tracked the microbes by collecting stool samples before, during and after Tom’s diet, and sent them to three different labs to check consistency.

Apart from the intensive diet making him feel temporarily ill, the results all told the same story: Tom’s community of gut microbes had been devastated.

The clearest marker of an unhealthy gut is losing species diversity and after just a few days Tom had lost an estimated 1,400 species – nearly 40 per cent of his total. The changes persisted and even two weeks after the diet his microbes had not recovered.

This is bad news, according to Spector, who said this loss of good microbes could affect the body’s metabolism and immune system. […]

By |July 18th, 2015|Gut health, Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss|0 Comments
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Skipping meals increases abdominal fat

Key message: Skipping meals is counterproductive and results in more fat gain.

Action point: Weight loss, if attempted, should be achieved by a diet involving small, regular meals spread evenly throughout an entire day.
In today’s busy world, when our ‘plates are too full’, many of us respond by skipping meals. While this may seem like a way to lose weight, think again.

According to a new study, this may backfire and actually increase belly fat.

A research team from the Ohio State University in collaboration with Yale researchers attempted to understand the impact different eating schedules had on mice.

Some of the mice were allowed to nibble throughout the day, while others were put on a restricted diet where they were fed just once every 24 hours.

The study, published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, found that the dieting mice tended to gorge their daily allotment of food all at once – the equivalent of fasting most of the day and then binging on a big meal.

The results showed that the mice included in the group that only received their food once every 24 hours, in a single meal, put on more fat in their abdomens. They also developed insulin resistance – an indicator of prediabetes.

What’s more, the gorging behaviour developed by the mice on the restrictive diets did not end once they began receiving proper amounts of calories.

 
The yo-yo effect
While those on the restricted eating plan initially lost weight, they gained it back when more calories were restored to their diets. This is a pattern that many human dieters will find all too familiar.

Weight cycling – or the yo-yo effect – is the repeated loss and regain of body weight. It has been shown to have harmful effects on […]

By |July 11th, 2015|Health & Wellbeing, Research, Weight Loss|0 Comments
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Nurture your baby: Nurture your microbiome

Key message: Gut health is an important factor in the wellbeing of mothers and their babies. Researchers have discovered that gut health starts as early as in the womb, and can be influenced by factors including diet during pregnancy, medicines given in the first few years of life, and birth and feeding choices.

Action point: Watch the documentary Microbirth, a fascinating documentary on how the events at birth shape our future.

Nurturing the health of our little ones also means taking care of another tiny creature – our microbiome
We all want our babies to have the best possible start in life. Most of us know the choices we make during pregnancy and the first few years of our babies’ lives affect their long-term health. Now science is discovering that baby’s health may well start in an often-overlooked area of the body – the gut.

In the past decade there has been growing awareness of the important role of the human microbiome – all the bacteria, viruses and fungi that live on and in our bodies. Imbalances in this population, which lives in many of our tissues but is particularly concentrated in the gut, have been linked to diseases from diabetes to dementia.

Researchers are now finding that gut health starts as early as in the womb, and can be influenced by factors including diet during pregnancy, medicines given in the first few years of life, and birth and feeding choices.

 

Check out these three research facts about infant and mother gut health:

 
Research fact one:  A mother’s diet may have a significant role to play in their unborn baby’s immunity.
Until recently it was generally thought that babies are born with a sterile gut and they pick up microbes on their journey through their mother’s vagina […]

By |July 4th, 2015|Gut health, Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Preconception & Pregnancy, Research|0 Comments
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    Happiness is a gut feeling: Research shows a link between gut bacteria and mental health

Happiness is a gut feeling: Research shows a link between gut bacteria and mental health

Key message: Research shows a link between gut bacteria and mental health.

Action point: Start adding fermented foods such as kombucha, pot-set yoghurt, kim chi, sauerkraut and kefir to your diet on a regular basis for a hit of gut friendly probiotics.
 

While most people think of the brain when considering moods, new research shows that our gut health may, in fact, have a large part to play in our happiness.
Your second brain
Sometimes referred to as the ‘second brain’, hidden in the walls of the digestive system, this ‘brain in your gut’ is revolutionising medicine’s understanding of the links between digestion, mood, health and even the way you think.

Our lower gastrointestinal tract is home to almost 100 trillion microorganisms, most of which are bacteria. They are mostly ‘good’ bacteria that help us digest food and release the energy and nutrients we need. They also crowd out bacteria that can trigger disease.

Recently, researchers have been investigating just how much power these tiny microbes wield over our mental health. They have found when things go pear shaped in our guts, they can also go pear shaped in our brains.
The role of serotonin
The chemical serotonin is largely responsible for maintaining mood balance with a deficiency of serotonin leading to depression. While serotonin is a well-known brain neurotransmitter, an estimated 90 per cent of the body’s serotonin is actually made in the digestive tract.

New research published this year shows that certain bacteria in the gut are important for the production of peripheral serotonin1. As well as having a role to play in mood, altered levels of peripheral serotonin have been linked to diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.

Peripheral serotonin is produced in the digestive tract by […]

By |June 27th, 2015|Gut health, Health & Wellbeing, Research|0 Comments
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Vitamin C Rich Winter Pesto

Last week both Sophia and I went down hard with a shocking cold. I was so congested that I was literally a ball of mucous! Sophia bounced back in three days while I soldiered on for six. To go back to my roots of Food as Medicine I made this delicious pesto, brimming with Vitamin C.
Did you know that Vitamin C helps to increase our white blood cell activity?
Our vegetable garden was overflowing with parlsey, which gram for gram, is one of the richest sources of Vitamin C. Add this pesto to the top of a slow cooked beef casserole, mix a teaspoon into your cup of bone broth or simply have with eggs for a tasty breakfast.
Ingredients
2 bunches parsley
3 cloves garlic
50gr pine nuts
1/2cup EVOO
Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
Instructions
Dry roast pine nuts and put aside. Add parsley, garlic, lemon juice and zest, then pine nuts to a high-powered blender. Pour EVOO over the top. Blend until well mixed and a paste like consistency. Store in an airtight glass jar then cover in a fine layer of EVOO to avoid mould developing.

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By |June 26th, 2015|Children, Detox, Health & Wellbeing, Immune Health, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Recipes|0 Comments
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Could taking vitamin D help you lose weight?

 
Key message: Taking vitamin D supplements can aid weight loss in obese and overweight people who are deficient in the vitamin.

Action point: Check your vitamin D levels with your health practitioner and then use this trusty app to track your vitamin D levels! http://dminder.ontometrics.com/

 

If you’re trying to lose weight, getting a healthy dose of vitamin D could help.

Vitamin D – also known as the ‘sunshine vitamin’ – is vital to strong bones and teeth and a healthy immune system.  It is also especially important for menopausal women. As women get older, their bodies lose the capacity to activate vitamin D, which can increase the risk of osteoporosis.

Now researchers have linked low levels of vitamin D to obesity.
A new study warns that people who have low levels of vitamin D are more likely to be obese or overweight 1.

Researchers at the University of Milan recruited 400 obese or overweight adults who were split into three groups – those who took no supplements, those who took 25,000 vitamin D units a month, and those who took 100,000.

All participants were put on the same balanced, low-calorie diet.

A significantly greater weight decrease and reduction in waist circumference was observed in both groups that took the supplements.

Those who took 25,000 units lost an average of 3.8kg, while the figure was 5.4kg for the 100,000 unit group and 1.2kg amongst those who took no supplements.

The study authors said:
“The present data indicate that in obese and overweight people with vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D supplementation aids weight loss and enhances the beneficial effects of a reduced-calorie diet.

“All people affected by obesity should have their levels of vitamin D tested to see if they are deficient, and if so, begin taking supplements.”
As most […]

By |June 20th, 2015|Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Research, Weight Loss|0 Comments
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How to Heal Your Adrenals Naturally

How to Heal Your Adrenals Naturally

Adrenal fatigue is one of the most under diagnosed illnesses in western society. Download a copy of my free ebook to learn about the symptoms and how to heal your Adrenals naturally.

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