Food Fight! Tournament of Seeds: Flaxseed vs. Poppy seed

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

Here’s our first match-up in the tournament of seeds: famous, fibrous flaxseed or bagel-garnishing poppy seeds?

flax vs poppy Continue reading →

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Food Fight! Tournament of Seeds

Posted on May 21, 2013 by

The Vancouver Canucks were out early, the Leafs lost in heart-breaking fashion, and the Calgary Flames, well, they were not exactly playoff material this season.

Food Fight tournament

If your team is out and you are experiencing playoff-withdrawal, in honour of the 2nd round of NHL playoffs we present our inaugural Food Fight! tournament… The Tournament of Seeds!

Chia seeds are getting all of the press, but what about baseball field-staple sunflower seeds, unsalted of course? Are flaxseeds all but forgotten? After creating a random tournament bracket, chia seeds won a first round bye because we could only think of 7 edible seeds!

Over the next several weeks, we’ll work through the tournament to see which seed reigns supreme. Any guesses?

Tournament of Seeds

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TGIF

Posted on May 18, 2013 by
  • Obesity can be a vicious cycle to break. Researchers found that obesity can inhibit the part of the brain the suppresses your appetite and encourages calorie burning, at leastTGIF in rats. These researchers also found that they could correct the problem using a chemical. Could this be the next obesity drug? Interesting but there is a long way to go from preliminary studies in rats to a safe and effective drug available for humans. We’ll just have to wait and see…..
  • How much salt should you really eat? The recommendation is for between 1,500 mg/d to 2,300mg/d and most Canadians are well above this recommendation. How bad is salt though and are these recommendations appropriate? Check out the New York Times “No Benefit Seen in Sharp Limits on Salt in Diet”. Of course, keep in mind that foods that are high in salt also tend to be processed foods high in fat and sugar with little nutritional value. Regardless of the role of salt in health, you should never base healthy diet choices on a single nutrient found in a food – good or bad.
  • Getting more than you bargained for when you eat out? When it comes to calories, yes. Turns out most restaurant meals in individual or small-chain restaurants provide 2 to 3 times the amount of calories needed at a single meal and on average 66% of an adult’s total recommended calories for the day.
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Intermittent Fasting: Skip Meals, Lose Weight?

Posted on May 14, 2013 by

flavour-of-the-week-logo3The advice sounds counterproductive, but I have always told meal-skipping clients “add a meal, lose a pound” and it usually works… but is there more to the story? There is a multitude of evidence, anecdotal and research-based, that suggests skipping meals adds up to big problems on the weight maintenance front. You skip breakfast and lunch, overeat at dinner and into the night, and there go any calorie savings from foregoing meals earlier in the day.

But what if you DIDN’T overeat at night… and didn’t each much the whole day? Is intermittent fasting really an effective weight loss solution? It may take willpower of steel, but could missing breakfast, lunch and dinner 1 – 2 times per week give superior weight loss results to the traditional “eat less, move more” philosophy? More importantly, would any weight loss as a result intermittent fasting actually be sustainable?

Note: we are just focusing on the evidence for intermittent fasting in overweight and obese individuals here, not athletes. That’s a whole different story!

Continue reading →

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TGIF

Posted on May 10, 2013 by
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Highlights from the 3rd Canadian Obesity Summit

Posted on May 6, 2013 by

The Canadian Obesity Network had its 3rd national conference May 1-4 in Vancouver. Theflavour-of-the-week-logo3 conference covered a whole range of obesity related topics from policy, to clinical, to basic science. Obviously, we cannot cover all of the presentations but we are able to share some information on a few of the sessions.

Here are the highlights from fetal programming, policy interventions, and food addiction.  Continue reading →

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TGIF

Posted on May 3, 2013 by
  • Eat for your brain! Results from a large trial in Europe showed that people who closely followed a Mediterranean diet rich in omega-3s and low in saturated fat had reduced risk of memory and cognitive issues with aging.
    …
  • Why does the fridge always call late at night, even when you are not hungry? Researchers suggest that your internal circadian system may have something to do with those late night cravings.
    TGIF…
    How do you thwart your internal body clock? Focus on a good breakfast, eat lighter later in the day, go to bed at a decent time, and avoid artificial light as the evening progresses.
    …
  • Prenatal iodine is back in the news. Low levels of iodine in pregnancy have again been associated with reduced cognitive function in children – irreversible and totally preventable with adequate iodine intake. Dietary sources of iodine include fish and shellfish, dairy products, kelp and, of course, iodized salt.
    …
    Several international organizations recommend iodine supplementation during pregnancy (not the US or Canada), so it seems prudent to look for a prenatal supplement with iodine included. Read the ingredients because only 50% on the prenatal multivitamin-minerals on the market actually contain iodine.
    …
  • More evidence from a recent review that more vitamin D is not necessarily better – cardiovascular-related death seems to be lowest with blood levels at the upper end of adequate (21 ng/ml or 50 nmol/L) but higher levels don’t protect any better.
    …
    So, how much vitamin D should you take to achieve this level? Since everyone processes vitamin D differently, your best bet is to get a blood test to see where your current diet and supplement practices but you in terms of blood levels and go from there.

And a special shout out to Casey Berglund, RD, RYT on the launch of her website this week. Casey wrote Ending Mindless Munchies for No Baloney back in October. Check out Casey’s website for A May of Mindfulness!

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