diet

Low-Protein Diet Can Help Manage Parkinson’s

- Adam Clare

Researchers in Toronto are looking into ways to help people who are suffering from Parkinson’s by altering diets. So far their research has shown that by embracing a low-protien diet some symptoms of Parkinson’s can be managed better.

“Diet is very important in Parkinson’s disease because the main medication called Levodopa may interact with protein,” says Kleiner-Fisman pointing out that in some people high protein may numb the effectiveness of the medication. “Food is a really important part of people’s social lives. If you now have this wacky diet, it makes it hard to enjoy food. A lot of people become quite isolated.”
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In total, the students developed 14 recipes: three for each major meal and five snacks. There’s the ginger and vegetable stir-fry chock full of veggies and rice noodles, but only three grams of protein. Or the hearty roasted breakfast potatoes with tomatoes salad also falling within the low-protein requirements. For heavier protein meals, the students came up with a southwestern-style chicken and quinoa dinner and some delicious salmon fishcakes. They also included a list of necessary equipment to make the meals and made sure the ingredients were easy to find in the average grocery store.

Read more at Yonge Street Media.

Eat Early for Best Calorie Burning Results

- Adam Clare

If you tend to eat early in the day you are more likely to burn weight than people who eat later on in the day. A study recently looked into timing of meals between groups of people in Spain and the USA and found that those who ate their largest meal of the day before 3pm lost 25% more weight.

So if you’re looking to diet you should schedule most of your caloric intake to happen before 3pm.

“This was the first long-term large-scale study to really demonstrate that the timing of meals can predict weight-loss effectiveness,” said one of the study’s authors Frank Scheer, director of the Medical Chronobiology Program and associate neuroscientist at the hospital.

Researchers divided participants into two groups, based on when they ate their largest meal of the day, which in Spain happens to be lunch, when about 40 per cent of the day’s calories are consumed. Early eaters were those who lunched before 3 p.m., while late eaters ate after 3 p.m.

Read more at The Star.

Lose Weight the Geeky Way

- Adam Clare

Weight Hacker is a website and book that focus on losing weight in a very geeky way. The creator of weight hacking writes about geeky things all the time and he decided to take his appeal of geeky things to his diet.

Sometimes I tried dieting, but either it didn’t work or it didn’t work for long. I concluded that diets weren’t for me because 1) they usually aren’t sustainable for anyone in the long term and 2) they weren’t compatible with my geeky lifestyle.

So I created Weight Hacking, my own personal weight loss system that used my geeky nature to work for me, and one that I could incorporate into my daily life. I didn’t go on a diet, I permanently changed my diet. I didn’t “get exercise,” I re-arranged my life so that I was naturally more active. And it wasn’t particularly hard.

Read more.

Good Reasons to Have a Vegan Diet

- Adam Clare

Unfortunately I’m no vegan, but this article is inspiring me to try harder at being one!

The article is an interview with Gene Baur, who is the founder of US-based animal rescue organization Farm Sanctuary about why a vegan diet is good for the planet, animals, and you.

What’s responsible for the rise of veganism?
I think there’s a convergence of issues. There’s more awareness of the cruelty in factory farming with the internet, YouTube and photos being widely distributed. There are growing healthcare problems. In the US, heart disease and cancer are the number-one killers and both can be seriously lessened by switching more to a plant-based diet containing whole foods instead of processed junk food. There are also the environmental consequences of basing a diet on animals. The UN put out a report called Livestock’s Long Shadow that talked about how livestock industry is one of the top contributors to serious environmental problems including climate change. As we face more economic challenges, I believe there will be a natural tendency towards more plant-based farming.
Would you like to see everyone become a vegan?
I’d love to see that, but I recognize everyone has to make their own choice. It’s my belief that this is the best way to live and the most humane way to live and the healthiest. There are a lot of things in this world we cannot control but one thing we can control is what we eat. Choose food that makes us healthy and makes us feel good and not make us say, “Oh, I don’t want to know where that came from.” Our food choices have big consequences on our health, the well-being of animals and the planet and I just want people to be mindful of that.

Read more here.

Packing Healthy Lunches

- Adam Clare

The CBC has put online a question and answers interview with some dieticians about how to pack a healthy lunch for kids at school.

There is no reason why you can’t pack a healthy lunch for yourself too!

What are common misconceptions?

Cohen: A lot of people think healthy lunches taste boring, that it’s rabbit food or that it tastes all the same.

How can parents create healthy meals?

Cohen: What’s really important to take small steps. With any program you should not turn everything upside-down. The key is to be educated, talk to your kids and make small changes.

For example, use whole-wheat pasta, low-sugar yogurts and add more fruits to your child’s meals.

Instead of saying “healthy lunches,” talk about balanced eating with your kids. Once they start eating healthier and they go back to trying processed foods, they won’t like them as much.

Read more

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