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Know your Artificial Sweetners

What comes to your mind when you talk about artificial sweeteners? Some say it has zero calories, some say it has lesser calories than table sugar. One day one gentleman came to me for his first consultation and while going through his diet recall, I realized he has been surviving on artificial sweeteners for almost 3 years and he had a complaint saying that despite cutting down on sugar, he is not losing weight!

Diabetic people also feel that their blood sugar levels would get under control if they stop eating normal sugar. People have a common misconception that if they stop consuming sugar, they would lose weight. But, as a nutritionist, I can guarantee that this is not possible. An individual’s lifestyle, BMR, daily activity, stress all of these factors contribute to the weight loss process.

If you ask me, I would say that sweeteners are not safe in the long run. Artificial sweetener is a substitute for refined sugar which has very few calories.

‘Food and Drug Administration’ regulations permit any food product that has 5 or fewer calories per serving to be labelled as containing “zero″ calories. Personally, being a nutritionist, I feel that anything which is artificial acts as a foreign substance which can have adverse effects on the body in the long run. In fact, there are many scientific studies which have proven that using sweeteners especially aspartame leads to neurological disorders like Alzheimer, dizziness, depression in the long term which can be fatal.

Sweeteners however should be used in moderation. If consumed on a daily basis it can get addictive. Today artificial sweeteners and other sugar substitutes are found in a variety of food and beverages marketed as “sugar-free” or “diet,” including soft drinks, chewing gum, jellies, baked goods, candy, fruit juice, and ice cream and yogurt misleading the consumers because even though the label on the pack would show zero calories, it would have good amount of carbohydrates and free saturated fats which is not good for the body.

Today, people easily get influenced by these gimmicks without knowing the pros and cons of the product. Just because a well-known celebrity is endorsing the product it does not mean you blindly go for it. It is in no way a ‘wow factor’ nor is it very healthy. There are many leading companies which promote their products as being the healthiest because it has no calories!! There are several types of artificial sweeteners:

  • Acesulfame- K
  • Aspartame
  • Sucralose
  • Saccharin
  • Stevia

 

Acesulfame K: Acesulfame K, also known as acesulfame potassium or ace K, is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar. It is marketed under the brand name of Sunett, Sweet One, and Sweet & Safe. It is commercially used in hard and soft candies, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, chewing gums, baked goods.

Aspartame: Aspartame is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar. Aspartame is marketed under the NutraSweet, Equal and Sugar Twin brands. It is commercially used in baked goods and pre-dessert mixes.

Sucralose: Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar. It is marketed under the brand name of Splenda. It is also used in soft drinks, candies, baked goods, and ice creams

Saccharin: Saccharin is 200-700 times sweeter than sugar. It is marketed under the brand name of sweet n low, nectar sweet, sweet twin.

Stevia: Stevia is a new product gaining importance in today’s world. It is a natural-sourced sweetener. (it originates from Stevia leaves). It is 400 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia can be found in thousands of food and beverage products around the world, including teas, soft drinks, juices, waters, flavoured milk, yoghurts, baked goods, cereals, salad dressings, sauces, confectionaries, and as a tabletop sweetener.

To sum it up, use Artificial Sweeteners in moderation. As it is rightly said, moderation is the key. Rather choose for healthier ones like Honey, Jaggery watching out the portion size for each!!

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Nutrient Absorption and Metabolism: A Catch-22?

Nutrient-Absorption
Optimal digestive function means we’re breaking down food properly, absorbing enough of the right nutrients and eliminating the waste that we don’t need. It’s a very organized, efficient and meticulous process.

But we need energy to perform these tasks, and much of that energy comes from nutrients we digest. It seems like a bit of a catch-22: We need energy in order for our digestive system to break down food, but we get much of that energy from food. If digestion is sluggish, we can’t break down nutrients properly to get more energy. This creates a vicious cycle that leads to a type of malnutrition in our cells, tissues and organs.


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Wastes build up, you retain water and your body converts excess calories to fat, since the body isn’t digesting them properly. Usually, this cycle starts with unhealthy dietary habits: eating too many processed foods that hinder digestive function by depleting our enzymes, probiotics and other factors critical for strong digestion. Unhealthy foods, particularly refined sugars, also spike glucose and insulin. The result is inflammation — another major culprit in weight gain and slow metabolism.

Essentially, a nutritious diet has a direct relationship to healthy body weight — not just because we’re avoiding inflammatory, fat-fueling foods like sugar and hydrogenated oils, but also because nutritious foods give our digestive system the building blocks it needs to function efficiently. Our mitochondria, the tiny cellular engines that create energy for the body, are a central part of our metabolism and digestion.

How quickly and efficiently the mitochondria can turn nutrients such as glucose into energy reflects metabolic health. If our mitochondria are inefficient, we store glucose as fat.

Where does digestion come into play?

When we’re not digesting properly, mitochondria don’t get their nutrients to produce energy, and excess waste creates inflammation and toxic buildup. As a result, we feel sluggish, tired and bloated. It’s all part of a complex, interrelated system where metabolism and digestion rely on one another to keep all the body’s systems fully energized and functioning at peak capacity.

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Body detoxification – A way to rejuvenate and re-energize

Body-detoxification
Most of us are worried when we put on that little extra weight. Recently, one of my pals came to me cribbing about her weight gain. she said that she had tried every possible diet… but nothing seems to work on her! she was desperate that I do something for her.

Amidst listening to her cribs and complaints, I noticed that she looked absolutely dull and was feeling terribly lethargic. It seemed like someone’s sucked all the energy out of her. A detailed conversation with her led me to discover that she was over-exerting herself at work and ending up binge-eating to counter stress.

This, in turn, was followed by unreasonable crash diets and excessive exercise to burn up the excess calories. Little was she aware that her body was actually in dire need of some essential nutrients which could make her healthy for the better.

Today, most of us lead a very fast-paced lifestyle. And this lifestyle is associated with certain inevitable factors such as stress, pollution, physical exertion, few negative habits such as drinking alcohol and smoking etc. As one’s body gets continuously exposed to these factors, there comes a point wherein the body gives up. The body gets weighed down by huge amounts of toxins which essentially needs to be flushed out.

These toxins include waste products that result from normal cell activity, such as ammonia, and also the chemicals that we consume almost daily through the air, water and food like flavoured enhancers, food colours, pesticides and preservatives. A cumulative load of these toxins is known to slow down the body metabolism which in turn results in weight gain and other health-related issues such as indigestion, impaired immune function, low energy levels, lethargy, fatigue, poor concentration, headache, dull skin and so on.

The body has its own ways of detoxifying itself. The liver is the main organ which has detoxification as its primary function. The other organs like intestine, kidneys, lungs, skin and blood work together with the liver to ensure that toxins are transformed into less harmful substances and excreted from the body via urine, stools, sweat or breath.

Just as your car engine needs servicing so that it runs better, your body organs also need to be cleaned at regular intervals so that they perform their functions well and at a faster rate. One way to cleanse your body is through food by including various detox foods into your diet.

Detox foods include the ones that are power packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fibre and water. The antioxidants neutralize the toxic free radicals that are generated due to stress, excessive exercise, air pollution, etc. whereas fibre and water draw out and eliminate toxins by increasing the frequency of bowel movements and urination.

While detox dieting is a great way of cleaning your body internally, it can be beneficial to lose weight as well.

How is that possible? As detox foods cleanse the liver by flushing out the toxins, it actually gives relief to the liver by reducing its workload. This gives the liver a chance to focus on its next important function which is fat metabolism. Thus, many of whom I know have found that detox dieting is a wonderful way to kick off those extra kilos or to get over a weight loss plateau. Apart from weight loss, the other benefits of detox foods include improved digestion, regular bowel movements, and improved energy levels, lowered levels of fatigue, improved concentration and glowing skin.

Now the next big question is how often should you detoxify yourself? According to me, at least once a week and preferably choose a day which is followed by what you call “a cheat day”. So after having an exhaustive week and a fun-filled Sunday where you break free and grab that cup-cake or a pan pizza, Monday is a perfect day to detoxify yourself. A detox food menu would ideally include colourful fruits, all kinds of veggies – either stir-fried or in the form of soup/juice/salad, beans and lentils, nuts and dry fruits, oats, beverages such as green tea, coconut water, Aloe Vera juice and many more.

Remember, we are keeping the proteins at bay just to avoid burdening our digestive system and kidneys with extra work as proteins are heavy to metabolize. Thus, milk, cheese, butter, cream, eggs, meat and meat products are out of the list. Other foods to keep away during detox include wheat products, excessive sugar, unhealthy fats (saturated and trans fats), processed foods, artificial sweeteners, caffeine and alcohol- that goes without saying!

A detox diet will, therefore, rejuvenate your system, re-energize you and gear you up for all the meetings and assignments lined up for the week. A word of caution here –Pregnant and nursing women shouldn’t go for Detox diet. Otherwise, it’s an amazing experience. So get started with it and feel the difference.

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Mind It: Eat slowly, do not gobble down

mindful eating

I had just about done with my daily routine of a brisk walk in a park. And, I hear some noises- what is it that I hear…it was my stomach growling. Sending me hunger cues and reminding me that I should be eating something. And, yes I was so hungry that I could probably eat a horse.

I quickly walked up to the nearest café to grab some snacks so I could calm down my growling stomach. While I was awaiting my order, I started to look around the café. One of the best things to while you are alone in a café is to observe others sitting there.  What do I see?

I see this young man eating at breakneck speed. Probably he was in a hurry to just grab some food and rush out to work. While he was eating a break neck speed he was also fidgeting with his phone. Ain’t we all good at multitasking of this nature? As he was eating he also managed to engage himself in few calls. If he could do that to me it came across as he wasn’t in such a hurry as it seemed! Then I thought to myself why would somebody be eating at such a speed? Probably, just a habit I thought to myself!

This is true though. There are many people whom I know have developed these fast eating habits. They are most often in a hurry to get over and done with their food to get away from the table. Most often one develops these habits during childhood and it continues through your adulthood.

But, let me tell you that gobbling down the food quickly without realizing what just went in, does no good to your body. In fact, eating too fast could nearly double your risk of being overweight or obese. A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association shows that women aged 40-50 years who eat the quickest are more likely to be obese than slow eaters.

Once you start eating, it takes about 20 minutes for the “stop eating” signal to reach your brain. Fast eating overrides the mechanism of stimulating the satiety center in the brain. Thus, if you eat too quickly or say within 20 minutes, you tend to overfill your stomach and overeat, paving way for overweight and obesity and other related disorders.

Rather than thinking about food in terms of number of calories and nutrients, it would be more beneficial if you eat it mindfully. Eating slowly, chewing the food thoroughly, and savoring every bite of it are some important aspects of Mindful eating which contribute to your health in several ways.

Digestion: chewing well promotes the release of salivary enzymes in the mouth which in turn start off the digestion process, thus making your further digestion smoother and simple. Hence it is said that slower you eat, the faster and more efficiently you metabolize the food.

Portion control leading to weight control: Portion control is easily achieved when you slowdown your pace of eating. When you eat slowly you become aware of when you stomach gets full and you also know how much to serve yourself and when to stop. Portion size and eating speed can be well explained through the famous ‘French Paradox’ which says that despite high intake of calorie rich and fatty foods in France as compared to the US, the incidence of heart disease  and overweight is relatively low in France. It is well documented fact that the French eat much slower than the Americans thus ending up taking smaller portions. Sensible eating therefore works miraculously for the weight-watchers.

Taste and Enjoying: Eating sensibly also involves relishing your food thoroughly by feeling the flavour on your palate. Sensible eating lets you experience the textures and the aroma of the food overall, making it a wonderful experience focused more on the impression and less on the health effects of eating.

In an age which is clouded by distractions, sensible or mindful eating gets difficult for many. It requires a conscious effort on an individual’s part to make sure that he or she is eating in an environment which is less distractive. To enable yourself eat mindfully, ensure that you are away from the television, mobile phones and other devices so that the focus is completely drawn towards eating. You can have some soft music playing in the background to make the eating experience more delightful.

When you eat, JUST EAT! Be mindful and Stay Healthy.

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