After eating that big turkey dinner, you’re probably feeling fat, and most of us are fat and getting fatter–why is this? Most people would say it’s because we eat too much and exercise too little. But that answer, while valid, may be a little too simple–there may be many other causes for obesity.
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After you eat Thanksgiving dinner, you may find yourself getting sleepy, because turkey contains a natural sleep-inducing amino acid called tryptophan. This is GOOD because cutting back on sleep reduces the benefits of dieting BUT sleeping too much may cause you to die younger. When dieters in a new study got a full night’s sleep, they lost the same amount of weight as when they slept less. When dieters got adequate sleep, however, more than half of the weight they lost was fat. When they cut back on their sleep, only one-fourth of their weight loss came from fat. They also felt hungrier. When sleep was restricted, dieters produced higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger and reduces energy expenditure.read more
We’ve reported on why “low fat” foods actually make you fat. We’re told we should especially avoid “trans fats,” but most of us don’t know what they are.
High consumption of trans fat, found mainly in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and widely used by the food industry, has been linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease. New York and Philadelphia have passed measures eliminating its use in restaurants, and other cities are considering similar bans.
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The January 27 issue of New Scientist reports on a study by Swedish researcher Fredrik Nystrom, in which he had 18 volunteers eat the same type of fast food diet that Matthew Spurlock ate for his film “Supersize Me.” Unlike Spurlock, who ate all his meals at McDonald’s for a month (which caused him to gain weight and even have liver trouble), some of Nystrom’s study subjects stayed thin. A few of them even ended up with LOWER levels of “bad” cholesterol! What’s going on here?
There may be genetic reasons that some of us struggle with our weight. One of them is a set of receptors that react enthusiastically to high carb, high fat food (as well as to marijuana). Another is a special kind of bacteria in your intestines.
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