Your vitamin supplements may be worthless

Dr. David Katz reported some not-so-encouraging news about vitamin supplements. He said it might be more beneficial to eat a well-balanced diet rich in vitamins and minerals.

The article reporting the doctor's statements stopped short of mentioning the role of phytochemicals in nutrient assimilation, but I have already dealt with that on in an article titled, "How Antiaging Antioxidants Help Add Life to Our Years" on my website.

There are several useless "short-cut paths" that people take to try to regain health. They are practically useless. These include:

• Hoping that by exercising you can turn your fat tissue into muscle tissue. No, you can build muscle while "burning" the fat. By exercising, your body uses the extra energy stored as fat, and while sensing that you need more muscle for you activity, actually builds more muscle tissue from the protein building blocks in the diet. Here's another mis-conception...
  
• Eating parts (or organs) of animals in hopes of acquiring strength, virility, or some attribute. Has anyone eaten the brain of a pig or cattle and increased their IQ? Neither will calcium pills deposit more bone tissue unless the body senses a need for it.
  

In most cases our tissues deteriorate because of lack of use. "Don't use it, you lose it," they say. So let's get active. Exercise, eat right, and the body will self repair and maintain.

The doctor is right. It's not more vitamin supplements that we need, it's better eating habits. The story "Some Vitamins Can Do More Harm Than Good" about Dr. Katz's statements is on ABC.com

The healthy dieting choice

Heavy advertising usually wins. Well, most of the times. Yes, even in the world of dieting and weight loss, popularity usually wins common sense.

If carbohydrate is the fuel, why should you decrease the amount you take in, especially when you are going to need the energy in your exercise program.

These popular fads never made sense to me at all. The "low-carb diet" logic seems something like, "If you need your car to run better, put less gasoline in the tank". Doesn't make sense to me.

On the other hand, it's easy to see why the anti-diabetes diet makes so much sense. I have said all that to make a point about a popular headline on Fox.com website recently - Atkins Diet Linked to Life Threatening Complication.

Folks, beware. Choose health today.

Phytochemicals and antioxidants

Whoever said "my food is my medicine, my medicine is my food" sure had a healthy phylosophy. Now science is actually saying, "man, you were right."

Unrefined foods have substances (phytochemicals and antioxidants) that protect the body from the destructive actions of free radicals.

The question is, are we eating enough of those foods high in these disease-fighting nutrients?

If you have any of the common lifestyle conditions mentioned on this blog, you could be depriving yourself of some really effective 'medicine'.

Remember that "chicken prevent cancer" story?

You may remember my chiding that bit of commercially motivated news the media put out at the end of last year. If you don't, read the comments I made in my article on my website.

Well, Newsweek Magazine is now backing up what I said. Thank you Newsweek!

The government pays for much of basic science, but industries with a stake in the outcome often fund food and drug studies.
- Newsweek, March 13, 2006

Industry-funded studies with negative results are often not published.
- Newsweek, March 13, 2006

Somebody is seeing the light. You should read the cover page headline by Newsweek, March 13, 2006 - "Diet Hype."

Can exercise cause weight gain?

I noticed I had put on a couple pounds recently even though I'd been exercising more. This puzzled me.

It seems this is somewhat natural in some people. Exercise should cause overweight people to lose weight. And it does, so long as your calorie intake is less than your calorie expenditure.

They say you lose one pound of fat for every 3500 calories you burn above your total calorie intake. This understanding is quite simpler than the weight loss commercials on TV.

However, why do I gain a few pounds?

Well, I have been eating more. My muscles have grown - it's not more fat that I have, it's more muscles!

One exercise physiologist says that is normal. Exercise has many benefits. It tones the muscles, makes them more efficient and gaining a few pounds of muscle is quite possible.