Things You Never Knew About Your Weight

     The New York Daily News published an interesting article, "8 Things You Never Knew About Your Weight." While I would argue that some of the research covered is actually well-known, some of it has not been highly publicized. My favorite 3 points:

3. Sleep More, Lose More

     "When patients see Dr. Louis Aronne, past president of the Obesity Society and author of the forthcoming book "The Skinny," they're as likely to have their sleep assessed as their eating habits. If patients are getting less than seven to eight hours, Aronne may prescribe more shuteye rather than the latest diet drug. With sleep, he says, "they have a greater sense of fullness, and they'll spontaneously lose weight."

     Why? University of Chicago researchers reported that sleep deprivation upsets our hormone balance, triggering both a decrease in leptin (which helps you feel full) and an increase of ghrelin (which triggers hunger). As a result, we think we're hungry even though we aren't - and so we eat. Indeed, sleep may be the cheapest and easiest obesity treatment there is."

     Anytime I have to get up earlier than normal, I wake up ravenous. If I stay up late working on something, the same thing happens. My body needs energy, and if I don't sleep, it craves fuel in the form of food.

4. Your Spouse's Weight Matters

     "... research shows that weight gain and loss can be, well, contagious. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that if one spouse is obese, the other is 37% more likely to become obese, too. The researchers concluded that obesity seems to spread through social networks."

     Doesn't it seem as if your weight seems to go up and down with that of a significant other? And I actually had a former roommate tell me the other day she thinks she's gained weight because she lives with her boyfriend now instead of me.

5. Cookies Really Are Addictive

     "While food is not addictive the way cocaine or alcohol is, scientists in recent years have found some uncanny similarities. When subjects at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia were shown the names of foods they liked, the parts of the brain that got excited were the same parts activated in drug addicts. It may have to do with dopamine, the hormone linked to motivation and pleasure, say researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. If obese people have fewer dopamine receptors, they may need more food to get that pleasurable reaction."

  

     There has also been some research conducted on sugar addiction in rats. Professor Bart Hoebel and other researchers in the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute have demonstrated that rats who consume high levels of sugar can experience withdrawal symptoms when it's removed from their diet. They're then more likely to binge on it when it's reintroduced later.

     Basically, food has similarities with any other substance that causes changes in your brain. We associate it with pleasure. The problem begins when it becomes a primary source of pleasure. And food or drugs shouldn't be the first thing we turn to when feeling low.

High Levels of Fructose May Lead To Overeating

       A recent study from the University of Florida found that rats who ate a diet high in fructose developed leptin resistance, a condition that contributes to overeating. 
     Leptin is a hormone that signals fullness.
     When the rats were given a high-fat, high-calorie diet, the leptin resistant group gained more weight than the others.

     If these results are applicable to humans, they help shed some light on the obesity epidemic in our country. Added sugars are in everything!

     Fructose can be added or natural in foods.

     It's in fruits and fruit juices, cured or breaded meats, sweetened milk, honey, and 

maple syrup, some vegetables and some bread and cereal products, according to the Mayo Clinic.
     It’s also in soft drinks, pastries, ketchup, jellies and many processed foods, according to 

Science Daily.

       In food label ingredient lists, sucrose also refers to fructose. Sucrose is white sugar, which contains fructose.
     Of course, high-fructose corn syrup is also major source of fructose. It represents over 40% of the caloric sweeteners added to foods and beverages, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
     But for those who decide to watch fructose consumption, it's important to not focus solely on high-fructose corn syrup.
     If someone is specifically trying to avoid high-fructose corn syrup, they may reject a product that contains it for another food with a different type of added sugar.
     If you regularly go out to eat at certain restaurants, look at the ingredients lists available at some restaurants’ websites. For instance, at Burger King’s site, high-fructose corn syrup is listed as an ingredient in the sandwich buns and Tendergrill chicken filet.
     Websites that provided nutrition information, like NutritionData.com are also helpful.
     The easiest way to limit fructose is to quit drinking soft drinks.
     Another convenient method would be to switch out reduced-fat or fat-free salad dressings, very high in fructose, for more satiating, regular versions.
     If craving sugar, have some. 
     But if you don’t specifically want something sweet, it might be wise to get an idea of how much fructose you're actually consuming.

Diet Soda Might Make You Hungrier

    

     If you're weight-conscious, drinking diet soda may seem like a smart choice. After all, for years health educators recommended using low or no-calorie sugar substitutes for weight loss.

     But the truth is that no-calorie sweeteners may make it harder for dieters to control their intake.

     Researchers speculate that the body associates sweetness with high-calorie foods. When no calories are actually consumed, people may overeat because their body is "looking" for those missing calories.

     When I read about this study, it made sense to me. I've never been a big pop drinker, but when I do, I notice that it makes me really full for a couple hours, but then the sensation seems to abruptly disappear and I get really hungry. Maybe at that point, my body is realizing I didn't really consume any calories.

     It is important to note that the study was on rats, not people, and it only studied the effect of saccharin, not aspartame (Splenda.) Diet Coke includes both saccharin and aspartame.

     Another study found that aspartame, as a replacement for sugar, is effective for weight loss. The important difference between the two studies? In the first study, the rats ate according to natural impulses. In the second study, the participants were replacing sugar with aspartame, so they were eating less overall calories.

     So, my conclusion is that if you are going to consume "fake sugars," (and ignore other possible negative health effects) consider the fact that they may make you hungrier, and you may have to keep a closer eye on your calories than if you were skipping diet soda.

The Connection Between Drinking Alcohol and Eating Sweets

     I've discussed the relationship between alcohol and (female) body weight on this site before. Alcohol consumption doesn't necessarily mean a higher BMI, like one would imagine. In fact, moderate consumption is associated with a lower BMI (while binge drinking is associated with a higher weight).

     I've also discussed the role of blood sugar in our hunger levels, and how low blood sugar can slow our metabolism and make us ravenously hungry. This problem is common the day after drinking. 

     Well it turns out that even though alcohol can lower blood sugar, we crave it when our blood sugar is already low. 

     Some researchers speculate that sugar cravings might explain why women who drink in moderation don't gain weight, because the consumption of candy and sugar goes down when alcohol intake goes up. Think about it. A bowl of ice cream with a beer doesn't sound very appetizing to me.

     So, maybe some women are replacing a 4-500 calorie bowl of ice cream with one or two 100 calorie beers. 

     Not exactly diet advice there. Of course I would never condone drinking for weight loss. But my goal is to educate, and it is something to think about. Next time you're craving a beer, think about whether you could be craving sugar. Then maybe in the future, make small changes to your diet, in order to reduce your sugar intake. Many health professionals believe reducing sugar intake leads to less cravings.

     Just some food for thought...