Food Variety, Calorie Intake, and Weight Gain

Let's kick off this post with a quote from a 2001 review paper (1):

Increased variety in the food supply may contribute to the development and maintenance of obesity.  Thirty-nine studies examining dietary variety, energy intake, and body composition are reviewed. Animal and human studies show that food consumption increases when there is more variety in a meal or diet and that greater dietary variety is associated with increased body weight and fat.

This may seem counterintuitive, since variety in the diet is generally seen as a good thing.  In some ways, it is a good thing, however in this post we'll see that it can have a downside.
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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... ice cream!!

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Book Review: Salt, Sugar, Fat

Michael Moss is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who has made a career writing about the US food system.  In his latest book, Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, he attempts to explain how the processed food industry has been so successful at increasing its control over US "stomach share".  Although the book doesn't focus on the obesity epidemic, the relevance is obvious.  Salt, Sugar, Fat is required reading for anyone who wants to understand why obesity is becoming more common in the US and throughout the world.

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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... energy bars!

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Glucagon, Dietary Protein, and Low-Carbohydrate Diets

Glucagon is a hormone that plays an important role in blood glucose control.  Like insulin, it's secreted by the pancreas, though it's secreted by a different cell population than insulin (alpha vs. beta cells).  In some ways, glucagon opposes insulin.  However, the role of glucagon in metabolism is frequently misunderstood in diet-health circles.

The liver normally stores glucose in the form of glycogen and releases it into the bloodstream as needed.  It can also manufacture glucose from glycerol, lactate, and certain amino acids.  Glucagon's main job is to keep blood glucose from dipping too low by making sure the liver releases enough glucose.  There are a few situations where this is particularly important:

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Health For All

Health For All..

The Importance or Mental Health

You would probably be shocked if you knew how frequently people suffered from depression and other mental issues. Although the numbers of those who seek assistance from a physician or qualified therapist are staggering, there are many who do not seek assistance. In most cases, they avoid asking for help out of embarrassment or a feeling that they can simply overcome the problem on its own. The fact of the matter is, however, many people that are suffering from depression and other mental illnesses are going to need medication and psychotherapy in order to overcome the problem and to deal with it effectively. (Source: San Francisco Psychotherapy)

There is also the fact that different segments of the population may have a need for specialized assistance. For example, the Asian American mental health problems that are experienced often include depression and anxiety and that can occur for any number of different reasons. In some cases, it may be a result of prejudice and lifelong problems with feeling as if they don’t fit in. This can lead to problems with many different depressive disorders, including clinical depression and anxiety attacks. Finding somebody who can give you an effective depression or anxiety treatment is important, because these are often chronic conditions that will follow an individual throughout their entire life. It is not simply a matter of taking a pill, which does not really cure anything. It’s a matter of finding the therapy that is necessary to get to the root of the problem, correct it and learn how to live your life again. (Source: Asian American Mental Health by Dr. Joanne Chan)