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Tag Archives: Obesity
Raspberry Ketones – You Decide
For years, wild claims used by supplement marketers promising miracle results have plagued the weight loss industry, yet in both Canada and the USA the rates of obesity in adults continue to rise. You have heard it from the Dr. Oz show – the latest ‘fat burner in a bottle’ and quick fix craze guaranteed to accelerate weight loss. Then the next thing that happens– green coffee bean extract and raspberry ketones are flying off the shelves of every health food store from Toronto to Vancouver. Even if you have a metabolic disorder, research has demonstrated that eating a healthy, balanced, calorie controlled diet with a consistent exercise routine can help maintain your weight. For the otherwise typical, overweight person without a … Continue reading
Sugar Shock
Did you know Dr. Phil’s wife doesn’t eat sugar…Beets and carrots have too much sugar…Jamie Oliver suggests flavoured milk is the one of the key causes of childhood obesity…Sugar is toxic… Yikes! When did the population become so confused about a naturally occurring ingredient that we have been consuming for hundreds of years? Certainly, if you’re a diabetic, carbohydrate consumption is measured and monitored. However in the general population, is sugar just one more thing to blame for overconsumption? As a RD, I like to focus on what you can eat and how much of it makes sense to maintain a healthy weight. The cost of sugar Canadian sugar is significantly lower in cost than in most developed countries, including the United States … Continue reading
Type 2 Diabetes – relationship to Diet and Exercise
More than 9 million Canadians live with diabetes or prediabetes (impaired glucose tolerance). Out of the 2.7 million Canadians with diagnosed diabetes, 90 per cent (2.4 million) are type 2. Type 1 vs. Type 2 Type 2 is distinguished from type 1 by the fact that the pancreas of a person with type 1 diabetes does not produce insulin, while a person with type 2 diabetes either produces inadequate amounts of insulin or suffers from insulin resistance, an inability to process insulin correctly. Insulin is primarily responsible for breaking down sugars, thereby providing the body with the essential energy necessary to perform normal functions. To date there is no proven way to prevent type 1 diabetes, in contrast, researchers suggest … Continue reading
Glycemic Index
It was 2004 and the ‘No Carb Craze’ still had momentum (more in the US than in Canada), when I was invited to a conference about Glycemic Index (GI) with experts from around the world. We were discussing topics such as the recognized scientific method to determine the GI of foods and how the Canadian Diabetes Association educates their patients on GI. The conference was held in Toronto, the perfect venue, where twenty-three years earlier in 1981 at University of Toronto, Dr. David Jenkins and his colleagues developed a standardized system of ranking foods based on their effect on blood glucose levels known as the GI. What is GI? The GI is ranked from 0 to 100 and the unit … Continue reading
Mindless Eating
As a dietitian, I’m fairly active with all the knowledge and expertise to have reasonable, healthy eating habits, however, I too sometimes get caught up in ‘mindless eating’. What is mindless eating? It is a term Brian Wansink, Ph.D. made famous from the title of his book, Mindless Eating and his research at the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University. What does it mean to mindlessly eat? Most of us don’t overeat because we’re hungry. We overeat because of boredom, of family and friends, packages and plates, names and numbers, labels and lights, colors and candles, shapes and smells, distractions and distances, cupboards and containers. Wansink’s studies show that the average person makes around 250 decisions about food every … Continue reading