Product Review: Nike Fuel Band

The ability to measure your progress toward a fitness goal is pivotal.  Today, I’ll review a product that can help you do this in a big way; the Nike Fuel Band.

The Nike Fuel Band is a tiny device that you wear around your wrist like a watch.  It contains a sports tested accelerometer that measures your physical activity.  It gives you a number of useful measures: including the number of steps you walk per day, the number of calories you have burned from physical activity, and most importantly, your Nike Fuel for that day. 

Nike Fuel is a universal metric of physical activity.  You set a goal for Nike Fuel points in a day, mine is 3000.  Your Fuel Band converts all of your physical activity into Nike Fuel points, including walking, running, weight lifting, basketball, and all other sports and activities.  The band has a series of LED light that turn from red to yellow and then to green as you progress toward your Nike Fuel goal for the day.  When you hit your goal, it lets you know.

Pros
1) This device measures all of your physical activity, not just your steps. This gives you a much better idea of your total activity.

2) You wear the Fuel Band like a watch.  This is a huge upgrade over most pedometers that you have to clip onto your belt.  I can’t tell you how many of my clients have lost their pedometer because it has fallen off of their waist at some point in the day.  In most cases, it is never found.

3) The Fuel Band plugs directly into your computer’s USB port to recharge and upload data.

4) You have free access to the Nike Fuel website, which keeps track of your activity and allows you to set goals.  The website is awesome.

5) Very good battery life.  In my experience, it lasts 5 or more days without a charge and once plugged in, recharges very quickly. 

6) It can store multiple day’s worth of data and then uploads automatically while charging.  Therefore, you don’t have to connect it to your computer every day.  Just charge it every week or so and your data will be uploaded.

7) It also tells the time.

Cons

1) The only con I can think of is that at $150, it is a bit more expensive than some of the other products on the market.

Would I Recommend the Nike Fuel Band?

Absolutely! Many of my clients have picked one up and they all love it as much as I do.  It will teach you a ton about your activity level.  You start to understand your patterns of physical activity.  You’ll be able to see which days of the week you consistently hit your goals, and which days you don’t.  When you come up with a plan to improve on the days that you miss, you can easily measure your progress.

It is very motivating as well.  I set a goal of 100 days of 3000 fuel points, which I’m proud to say that I hit! More than once, I was doing a few minutes of jumping jacks before I went to bed to make sure I hit my goal for the day.  My wife thought I was nuts, but once I set that goal; I wouldn’t go to bed until I hit it.

For my weight loss clients, I have them set a goal of 3000 Fuel points and 10,000 steps per day.

The Nike Fuel Band retails for $150 and you can pick it up on the Nike.com website.

Click here for more information or to pick one up.

Research Update: Mediterranean Diet and Cardiovascular Disease

Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet. New England Journal of Medicine 2013 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1200303

Objective:  The objective of this trial was to compare the effects of a Mediterranean diet and a low fat diet on risk of cardiovascular disease in subjects over 5 years.

Methods: 7,447 subjects at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease were randomized into one of 3 diet groups: A Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts, and a low fat diet. The subjects were followed for 4.8 years and the primary endpoints were myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes.

Results: The Mediterranean group supplemented with nuts had a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular disease when compared to the low fat group.  The Mediterranean group supplemented with olive oil had a 28% lower risk of cardiovascular disease when compared to the low fat group.  The trial was stopped early because it was no longer considered ethical to keep the low fat group on a diet that could be increasing their risk of cardiovascular disease.

Discussion: This is a beautifully designed study in an elite research journal.  A 30% reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease in only 5 years is an impressive difference.  The authors believed that the benefit of the Mediterranean diet was due to favorable changes in blood lipids, insulin sensitivity, and resistance to oxidation, inflammation, and vasoreactivity.

Take Home Message:  This study provides further evidence that a low fat diet is not the way to go.  In fact, this study is so big and so well done, that it very well may be the final nail in the coffin for low fat diet proponents.  If you want to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, the number one killer in the U.S., follow a Mediterranean approach; which features olive oil, nuts, fruits and vegetables, legumes, lean protein and limits sugar sweetened beverages, breads, sweets, butter, and red meat.

Top 10 Sources Of Hidden Sugar In The American Diet

In my opinion, sugar is the most serious problem with the American diet. As a nation, we consume a ton of it!  It has been shown in the research literature to increase the risk of obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.  What makes sugar so dangerous is its addictive quality.  The more you have, the more you want.  It is very hard to do sugar part time.  In 15 years of working with clients, I have found that the only way to deal with sugar is to avoid it 100%.  Once you are off of it for a period of 2 weeks, you honestly won’t even miss it.  But if you have it now and again, your cravings for it will be a daily battle.

Most sources of sugar are quite obvious to my clients: soda, cookies, cake, ice cream, etc.  However, there are a lot of hidden sources of sugar in the American diet.  I thought I’d use this post to list out the top 10.

10) Barbecue Sauce: Most brands have 2½ teaspoons of sugar in a 2 tablespoon serving. Many have even more than this.

 

9) Jelly And Jam: A 2 tablespoon serving provides a startling 6½ teaspoons of sugar.

8) Energy Bars: These are marketed as healthy, workout friendly snacks or meal replacements, but in most cases they are nutritionally equivalent to candy bars.  Most leading brands have over 6 teaspoons of sugar per bar.

7) Dried Fruit: Long considered healthy, raisins and other dried fruits are a huge source of hidden sugar in our diets.  A quarter cup serving of raisins has 7½ teaspoons of sugar.

6) Ketchup: A 2 tablespoon serving has 2 teaspoons of sugar. 

5) Low Fat Salad Dressing: When manufacturers reduce the fat in a product, they almost always add more sugar to improve the taste.  Most commercial low fat dressings pack 1½ to 2 teaspoons of sugar in a 2 tablespoon portion.  Since most people use more than this to dress their salad, the sugar can add up fast.

4) Vegetable Juice: When you separate the fiber from the sugar in a fruit or vegetable, you are left with a very high glycemic load beverage.  There are almost 2 teaspoons of sugar in an 8 oz glass of tomato-based vegetable juice.

3) Flavored Yogurts: These are perceived as a healthy choice for breakfast or for a high protein snack.  However, the typical flavored yogurt has 3¼ teaspoons of added sugars in a 6 ounce serving.

2) Balsamic Vinegar: This one is usually a shocker to my clients.  Balsamic vinegar can have a ton of sugar.  It really depends on the brand.  Check your labels.  I’ve seen balsamic vinegar that has 5 teaspoons of sugar in a 2 tablespoon serving! Make sure the one you use has a lot less.

1) Orange Juice: Long considered a healthy start to your day, orange juice is loaded with sugar.  While it is naturally occurring sugar, it is separated from the fiber in the orange, so it's impact on your blood sugar is dramatic.  You’ll find 5½ teaspoons of sugar in a typical 8 ounce glass of orange juice.

Feature Article: New Research On Diet Soda

Consumption of artificial sweetener and sugar containing soda and risk of lymphoma and leukemia in men and women. 
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2012; 96:1419-28.

Last month, a very interesting article was published examining diet soda consumption and risk of certain cancers.  The results were a bit surprising and a bit disturbing.  I thought I’d use this post to explain the ramifications of this investigation. 

Summary Of Findings

The objective of this study was to examine the association between diet soda consumption and risk of 3 cancers: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and leukemia.  The study included 47,810 men from the Health Professional Follow-up Study and 77,218 women from the Nurses’ Health Study.  Participants were followed for 22 years.  Here are the main findings:

-When the 2 cohorts were combined, there was no significant association between diet soda consumption and risk of these cancers.

-Men consuming the most diet soda had a 31% increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and a 102% increased risk of multiple myeloma.

-This association was not seen in women.

-Men consuming the most regular soda (not diet) had a 66% increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Why You Should Be Concerned

1) This is a very well designed study.  Harvard’s Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professional Follow-up Study are two of the best cohort studies in the whole world. 

2) A recent very large study in rats saw increases in risk of these cancers with a high consumption of aspartame, which is the sweetener used in diet soda.

3) This association is biologically plausible.  Aspartame in liquid breaks down to its 3 ingredients; methanol, aspartic acid, and phenylalanine.  Formaldehyde is metabolized from methanol and is a documented carcinogen.

Why You Should Not Freak Out Entirely

1) There is a lot of previous research on the health effects of aspartame, I mean a lot.  It is arguably the most tested food substance in the history of the world.  The results of this research in both humans and animals is that it is safe.

2) When the cohorts were combined, there was no association between diet soda and these cancers.  Also when women were analyzed separately, there was no association between diet soda and these cancers.

3) The men showing an increased risk of cancer were drinking a lot of diet soda, an average of 11 servings per week.  A serving is considered 12 ounces.  Men with lower consumption, even up to 6 servings per week, saw no increased risk of these cancers.

4) It may not even have been the aspartame that caused the problem.  Because there was an increased risk in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in men drinking a lot of regular soda, the researchers theorized that it may be something else in soda in general, perhaps another ingredient common to both diet and regular soda (such as the caramel coloring) or a substance used in the packaging.

5) There is really no reason that there should be a sex difference in risk of cancer with this exposure.  The sex difference in risk combined with the fact that risk was elevated in regular soda drinkers as well means the results could have been due to chance.  In fact, the researchers mention as much in their own conclusions.

Recommendations

As the first study to show harm with high levels of diet soda consumption, this will no doubt spur new research in this field.  We should all keep our eye on it. 

My clients and readers of my books know that I advocate 100% sugar avoidance and, instead, occasional non-nutritive sweetener use twice a week on splurge meals.   It is my opinion that this level of consumption is safe, even after reading this study.  Two or three diet cokes a week have never been shown to cause any problem, including in this investigation.  If you are drinking tons of diet soda every day, is this study enough to make you stop?  It probably would be for me. 

However, my clients and readers of my books already know that daily consumption of diet soda is a bad idea for a number of reasons.  But that is a whole other story and this post is long enough already!

Although this study is the first to suggest a potential negative health effect of diet soda, keep in mind that lots of research has found an association between regular soda and risk of obesity, diabetes, and even heart disease.  Artificial sweeteners, although far from perfect, when consumed in moderation, are still the lesser of two evils.

Before I read this study, I had aspartame in the “occasional use” category.  In other words, I looked at it as I did red meat.  Now and again consumption is not likely to cause a problem, but daily consumption may.  After reading this article and considering all previous literature, I still look at it this way.

One last note: both this study, and the study in rats focused on aspartame, also known as Equal.  Sucralose, also known as Splenda, has not been shown to have any negative health effects.  Therefore, when you do occasionally use an artificial sweetener, it may be a good idea to go for products made with Splenda instead of Equal just to be on the safe side.

Introducing Life On The Triad and Maximize Your Health

Today is a very exciting day for me.  I’m officially launching 2 new books!  I thought I’d use this post to tell you a little about them.

Life On The Triad

I published my first book, The Weight Loss Triad, almost 4 years ago. This book presented a comprehensive weight loss program divided into 3 key areas: Diet, Cardiovascular Exercise, and Resistance Training.  It has done far better than I ever would have imagined. 

Life On The Triad is a meal plan and recipe companion to The Weight Loss Triad.  It includes 28 days of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that comply 100% with The Triad principles.  For this project, I teamed up with my sister, Diana Halton, who is a graduate of New York City’s prestigious Institute of Culinary Education.  She is an absolutely awesome chef.  With her help, we created 28 recipes ranging from quick and easy to gourmet.  Again, all of these recipes comply 100% with the principles of The Weight Loss Triad to keep you moving steadily toward your weight loss goals.

Life On The Triad also includes chapters on eating out, traveling, sugar free living, and a shopper’s guide.  For those who have not read my first book, I’ve also included a brief summary of The Weight Loss Triad program.

To learn more about Life On The Triad or to pick up a copy, please click here.

Maximize Your Health

Maximize Your Health is a simple, yet powerful top 10 list of the most important things that you can do to reduce your risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.

We are bombarded with health advice on a daily basis from newspapers, TV, our government, medical societies, doctors, and of course books on diet and fitness.  Much of this advice is conflicting.  It has become very difficult for people to separate the good information from the bad. The key to making the right decisions for your health is to separate sound research hypothesis from personal opinion.

There is a huge and remarkable body of research literature that has been published in the past 30 years that shows just how the right combination of diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits can promote robust health and dramatically reduce risk of chronic disease.  Sadly, most Americans don’t even know that this research exists or how to separate the good studies from the bad.

I have yet to see a simple, easy to read summary of this research. 

That is why I wrote Maximize Your Health.  The book lists out the 10 most important and modifiable lifestyle factors to improve your health and reduce your risk of chronic disease.  All of the claims are backed by the latest research.  The book also includes detailed action steps to help you improve your adherence to these health promoting strategies.

To learn more about Maximize Your Health or to pick up a copy, click here.

Research Update: Macronutrient Composition And Weight Maintenance

Effects of dietary composition on energy expenditure during weight loss. 
Journal of the American Medical Association 2012; 307(24):2627-34.

 

Objective

After weight loss, the human body fights hard to regain weight. One of the ways it does this is to decrease the amount of calories it burns on a day to day basis. This is known as a decrease in resting energy expenditure. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of 3 different diets varying in macronutrient content and glycemic load on resting energy expenditure following weight loss.

 

Methods

21 overweight young men and women completed a 12 week weight loss program that resulted in an average weight loss of 13.6% of body weight. Once the weight was lost, they each went on one of 3 diets for a period of 4 weeks. Each of these diets contained the same exact number of calories.

 

Diet #1: Low Fat: 60% carbohydrate, 20% protein, 20% fat

Diet #2: Low Glycemic Index: 40% carbohydrate, 20% protein, 40% fat

Diet #3: Low Carbohydrate: 10% carbohydrate, 30% protein, 60% fat

 

After each 4 week diet intervention, a variety of measures were taken, including resting energy expenditure, hormone levels, and components of the metabolic syndrome.

 

Results

The decrease in resting energy expenditure was greatest with the low fat diet (-205 calories per day). Next was the low glycemic index diet (-166 calories per day). The least was the low carbohydrate diet (-138 calories per day).

 

Comment

This is a ground breaking study that challenges the assertion that a calorie is a calorie. The 3 diets that were tested were isocaloric, in other words they had the same amount of calories. The fact that each had a different impact on resting energy expenditure means that something is going on hormonally that will impact your body’s reaction to weight loss. It would be easy to look at the results of this study and say that the low carb diet is the way to go.

 

Not so fast! The researchers measured a bunch of other things besides resting energy expenditure. During the low carb phase, subjects had a significantly higher cortisol level. This is a hormonal measure of stress and has been associated with a variety of negative health outcomes, such as insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. Subjects in the low carb phase also had a higher level of C-reactive protein.  This is a measure of body wide inflammation and has also been associated with a variety of chronic diseases.

 

The low fat diet showed the greatest decrease in resting energy expenditure and also showed some negative metabolic effects, including an increase in insulin resistance, a decrease in HDL cholesterol, and an increase in triglycerides.

 

The low glycemic index diet seemed to be the best of both worlds. You get a reduced decrease in resting energy expenditure without the metabolic changes that increase risk of chronic disease.

 

Take Home Message

The study provides more evidence that a low fat diet is not the way to go if you want to lose weight and keep it off. While the low carb diet had the most favorable impact on resting energy expenditure, it also resulted in some very unfavorable metabolic changes. The low glycemic approach seems to offer the best combination of blunting the reduction in resting energy expenditure that comes with weight loss while protecting you from chronic disease.

 

Brown Rice And Arsenic: What Is Going On?

Chances are, you have recently read in the papers the disturbing report of high levels of arsenic in rice products. Many of my clients have been asking me if they should alter their consumption of brown rice, which is a staple for many looking to include a lower glycemic, whole grain in their diet.

I figured I’d do a little research on the matter and update everyone with a Blog post on the subject, so here goes!

Where Did This Report Come From

The media attention on rice and arsenic stemmed from a Consumer Reports article that came out just a few weeks ago.

You can read the report here:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/11/arsenic-in-your-food/index.htm

Scientists tested over 200 samples of rice products for levels of arsenic.  Products tested included white rice, brown rice, hot and cold rice cereals, rice crackers, and rice pasta.  Many of the products tested positive for what Consumer Reports call “worrisome” levels of arsenic.

What is Arsenic And Why Is It Bad For You?

Arsenic is an element that can be found naturally in rocks and soil, water, and even the air we breathe.  It has also been introduced into the environment from agricultural and industrial sources.  Many years ago, arsenic was used as a pesticide in areas that grew cotton.  While it is no longer used in this way, much of the arsenic used for this purpose can still be found in the soil.

Arsenic comes in two forms.  Inorganic and organic.  Organic Arsenic is thought to be much less toxic to humans.  Inorganic arsenic is the form used in industry and has been linked to cancer in humans.

Both the National Toxicology Program and the Environmental Protection Agency classify inorganic arsenic as a “known human carcinogen”.  Studies have shown that high levels of arsenic exposure are associated with an increased risk of bladder, lung, and skin cancer.  It may cause other types of cancer as well. 

It is clear that high levels of arsenic are not good for us.  The question is how high is too high?

My Take On The Consumer Report Findings

Should we be concerned about the report of arsenic in our rice? Yes.  Should we freak out about it?  Absolutely not.  Here is why:

1) The EPA has known about the presence of arsenic in our foods for years and is not overly concerned with negative health outcomes at current levels of exposure. They do not recommend changing consumption patterns of brown rice, but suggest including a variety of other whole grains as part of a balanced diet.  They are currently investigating the matter in more detail.

2) According to the EPA, rice is actually the 3^rd biggest source of arsenic in our foods, accounting for 17% of dietary exposure.  The biggest source is vegetables at 24% and the second biggest is fruit at 18%.

3) The levels reported were not earth shattering.  For example, many of the brown rice samples tested reported an arsenic exposure of 6-7 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per serving.  The federal government standard for safe drinking water is 10 micrograms per liter.  In other words, if the same amount of arsenic found in a serving of brown rice was found in a liter of drinking water, it would be deemed safe for consumption.  Keep in mind you would be drinking several liters of this safe water per day.

4) The reality of our world is that most of our food is contaminated with something.  The question becomes is it contaminated enough to make us sick?  You need to consider the pros and cons of consuming the food.  For example, our fish supply contains small amounts of mercury.  However, the benefits of eating fish outweigh the increased risk of the mercury so that people who eat fish are actually healthier than people who do not.  The same goes for fruits and vegetables.  Most contain a small pesticide residue, but the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables far outweigh the risk so that people who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables are healthier than those who don’t.  This is actually explained very nicely in an article in U.S. News And World Report by Dr. David Katz, a respected nutrition researcher from Yale. You can find this article here.

What Do I Recommend?

If you are eating 5 servings of brown rice per day, you may want to cut back a bit.  If you are having it a few times per week, there is no reason to change this behavior.  Brown rice is a very good source of whole grain that has a research proven beneficial impact on our health.  

I would be cautious about eating a lot of rice products if you are pregnant and I wouldn’t feed a lot of it to young children.  This is because even smaller levels of arsenic appear to be more harmful to fetuses and young children.

Rice grown in the southern U.S. is higher in arsenic that that grown in California (cotton was grown in the South and not in California).  If you can find a brown rice that is grown in California, go with that one.

Another recommendation would be to change the way you cook your brown rice.  According to Consumer Reports, if you use 6 cups of water for each cup of brown rice, and drain off the excess water after the rice is cooked, you can reduce arsenic levels up to 30%.  It is a good idea to start doing this.