Ketogenic diet might help with diabetes

The keto diet is a high-fat, low-carb eating plan. On the keto diet, you are usually eating around 80% fewer carbs than what national guidelines typically advise.

Research shows that the diet's approach to limiting carbs may help people with type 2 diabetes manage their condition.

This is because glucose in blood comes predominantly from carbohydrates, so reducing carbohydrates reduces blood glucose and hence helps people with type 2 diabetes.

With carbs pretty much out of the picture, the body needs another way to fuel itself. So, it uses fat, which is broken down into ketones — and these ketones become the body's primary energy source and ketones do not increase blood glucose levels. Thus diabetes is better kept in control.

But if you do have type 2 diabetes, your doctor should be monitoring you while you are on the keto diet. That is in part because ketone levels that are too high can be dangerous — changing the degree of blood acidity, and possibly leading to conditions like cardiac arrhythmia, says Osama Hamdy, MD, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and senior staff physician at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

Hamdy says the keto diet is not harmful for the majority of type 2 diabetes patients, but replacing carbohydrates in the diet with any type of fat, like meat or bacon, can result in a significant increase in bad cholesterol. That is why substituting the carbs you are cutting from your diet with healthier proteins and fats, like olive oil, avocados and nuts.

For his part, Hamdy recommends a modified version of the keto diet for overweight or obese type 2 diabetes patients — one where carb intake is specific to the individual, unhealthy fats — like saturated fat in red meat — is limited, and protein intake, particularly plant-based protein like beans, is higher.

"With the keto diet, you are not only losing fat but also losing muscle mass, which is dangerous. The capacity to regain muscle mass again is limited," Hamdy says. "So, replacing carbohydrates with protein instead of fat is a better idea, especially in conjunction with strength training."

The keto diet also comes with a series of side effects — sometimes referred to as the keto flu — like headache, constipation, and bad breath. Other risks include eventually developing conditions like kidney stones and vitamin deficiencies, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The academy also advises against the diet for people with certain conditions, like eating disorders or those with pancreatic disease because of the detrimental effect on the pancreas from the high intake of fat.

Thus consult with a doctor before trying any type of extreme diet.

Half a tablespoon of Olive Oil a day can improve Heart Health

Research shows that adding olive oil to a diet leads to improved cardiovascular outcomes.

The analysis shows that eating more than 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil per day lowers one’s risk of cardiovascular disease by 15 percent and the risk of coronary heart disease by 21 percent.

Olive oil is a simple way to replace unhealthy, saturated and trans-fatty acids of animal fats with a source of omega-3 fatty acids that reduce inflammation and improve cholesterol,

Animal-based fats such as margarine, butter, dairy fat and mayonnaise are less healthy than olive oil when it comes to supporting heart health.

The findings show that olive oil is not the only oil that contains these benefits. There are also positive associations with other plant oils, such as corn or safflower oil, although more research is needed to confirm the effects of plant oils on health outcomes.

While replacing animal fats with olive or vegetable oil is a strong step toward improved cardiovascular health, it is hardly the be-all and end-all. Good heart health also requires physical activity and a balanced diet.

Vitamin D deficiency increases risk of countless health woes (II)

As mentioned, deficiency of vitamin D may increase the risk of countless health woes:

Tooth decay in infants and toddlers

Vitamin D is crucial both to our dental health and the formation of our teeth. 

A study in Pediatrics measured the blood levels of vitamin D in pregnant women, then checked the teeth of their babies at one year old. Researchers found that mothers of children with weak enamel and tooth decay had significantly lower vitamin D levels during pregnancy compared to moms of children with healthy teeth.

Gum disease and tooth loss

The sunshine vitamin has a key role in protecting our teeth as we age. In one study, older adults who took 700 international units (IU) of vitamin D (along with calcium) each day for three years were less likely to lose teeth than those who took placebo pills, even two years after they stopped taking the supplements. Researchers have also reported strong evidence that D deficiency is a risk for gum disease and that it can worsen dental problems once we have them.

Alzheimer's and dementia

Studies have linked low vitamin D to abnormalities in brain structure, cognitive decline and dementia. In a recent study in JAMA Neurology, which measured vitamin D and cognitive function each year in an ethnically diverse group of elderly patients (about half of whom had some form of cognitive impairment at the start of the study), lower levels of D were associated with accelerated cognitive decline.

UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections)

Vitamin D prevents infection by helping our bodies produce natural antibiotics.  A study in Archives of Disease in Childhood found that D deficiency is a risk factor for urinary tract infections in children, especially girls. Low levels are associated with UTIs for adults, too.  A study of women who suffered from recurrent UTIs found that they had lower levels of vitamin D than women who didn't.

Female incontinence

Since vitamin D is critical for muscle strength, deficiency can contribute to weakness in the pelvic floor, i.e. the hammock of muscles that supports the bladder, vagina, uterus, and rectum and lead to urinary incontinence (as well as, potentially, fecal incontinence) in women, according to a 2012 research review published in International Urogynecology Journal. For women who suffer from poor bladder control, maintaining healthy levels of vitamin D could prove to be as important as performing pelvic floor exercises.

Asthma

According to a large Israeli study published in Allergy that tracked more than 21,000 adults with asthma, while people with asthma were no more likely to have low D than those in the general population, asthmatics who did have a vitamin D deficiency were 25% more likely to experience acute attacks.

Schizophrenia

There is a strong link between vitamin D deficiency and this mental health disorder.  In a 2014 review of 19 studies, researchers found that 65% of schizophrenia patients had low levels of vitamin D, and people with vitamin D deficiency were more than twice as likely to have schizophrenia. That correlation does not necessarily mean that deficiency causes schizophrenia. In fact, experts hypothesize that the reverse may be true, with schizophrenia causing people to make lifestyle and diet choices that lead to deficiency.

Depression

Female college students who had low levels of vitamin D were more likely to have clinically significant symptoms of depression, according to a 2015 study published in Psychiatry Research.

Colorectal cancer

A 2011 meta-analysis found that greater vitamin D intake and higher vitamin D levels were linked to lower risk of colorectal cancer. 

On the other hand, a 2006 clinical trial as part of the Women's Health Initiative found that women who took calcium and vitamin D supplements for an average of seven years had no reduction in colorectal cancer risk compared to those who took a placebo.

Pancreatic cancer

People with the highest vitamin D levels were 35% less likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those with the lowest levels, according to a 20-year study of nearly 120,000 people conducted by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts.

Prostate cancer

Low levels of vitamin D were associated with more advanced, aggressive prostate tumors in biopsy patients in a 2014 study in Clinical Cancer Research.  

Among African American men, low vitamin D was also associated with a higher risk of developing prostate cancer in the first place. A small pilot study from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston found that when prostate cancer patients received 4,000 IU of vitamin D per day for 60 days, 60% of them showed improvement in their tumors.

Vitamin D deficiency increases risk of countless health woes (I)

If you do not get enough vitamin D, you may increase the risk of countless health woes:

Osteoporosis
Our bodies rely on vitamin D to help absorb calcium and grow bones that stay dense and strong throughout our lives. In fact, more than 50% of women treated for bone loss have inadequate vitamin D levels. Accordingly, the National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends an intake of 400 to 800 IU (international units) of vitamin D per day for adults under the age of 50, and 800 to 1,000 IU for those over the age of 50 (the risk of osteoporosis increases with age).

Rickets

Rickets (the softening and weakening of bones in children) is usually caused by an extreme and prolonged vitamin D deficiency. Children who are 3 to 36 months old are at highest risk because their bones are growing so fast.

Erectile dysfunction

Vitamin D deficient men are 32% more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction than men with higher levels, according to research presented at the 2015 annual meeting of the American Heart Association. The findings reflect the effect that vitamin D has on vascular function, including vessels that carry blood to the genitalia.

Heart disease

Heart disease and vitamin D deficiency are known to go hand in hand. A 2009 study found that subjects with extremely low levels of vitamin D were nearly three times as likely to die of heart failure and five times as likely to die of sudden cardiac death. However, there is no evidence of a direct link between higher vitamin D levels and lowering cardiovascular risk.

Childhood language impairment

Women who had low levels of vitamin D at 18 weeks pregnancy had nearly double the risk of having a child with signs of language impairment at ages 5 and 10 compared to women with higher levels, according to an Australian study published in Pediatrics. The results did not prove that vitamin D causes those difficulties, but they did highlight its importance in fetal brain development.

Obesity

People who are obese are 35% more likely to be vitamin D deficient than normal-weight people, and 24% more likely to be vitamin D deficient than overweight people, according to a 2015 meta-analysis. Obesity might limit the body's ability to use D from both sunlight and dietary sources, since fat cells hold on to vitamins and do not release them efficiently.

Diabetes

People with diabetes or prediabetes have lower vitamin D levels than those with normal blood sugar, according to a Spanish study published in 2015 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. The authors believe that vitamin D deficiency and obesity "interact synergistically" to increase the risk of diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

Lupus

Lupus, a chronic inflammatory disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own organs and tissues, is frequently associated with vitamin D deficiency—in part because lupus patients are often advised to stay out of the sun (the source of 90% of our vitamin D) and prescribed corticosteroids, which are also linked to low levels of D.

Preterm birth

In a study of more than 2,000 mothers-to-be, women with higher levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D (an indicator of our bodies' vitamin D stores) had a lower risk of giving birth before 37 weeks. Vitamin D could be having a protective effect by reducing bacterial infection in the placenta, which can cause preterm birth. In another study, researchers who examined data from the study of more than 42,000 women reported that among nonwhite mothers, higher concentrations of 25-hydroxy D were associated with a reduced risk of birth before 35 weeks.

MS (Multiple sclerosis)

In 2013, an international team of researchers examined data from 465 people with early-stage MS, an often-disabling autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, reported that higher levels of 25-hydroxy D measured at the onset of symptoms (and then 6, 12, and 24 months later) predicted a slower rate of disease progression. Subjects with higher levels of D had a slower increase in brain lesion volume, fewer new lesions, lower brain volume loss and lower disability levels than those with low levels of D.

PMS (Premenstrual syndrome)

According to the Nurses' Health Study II, women between the ages of 27 and 44 with a high intake of vitamin D had the lowest risk of experiencing PMS symptoms. The study found that higher calcium intake was also associated with lower PMS risk. A 2010 pilot study suggested a connection between vitamin D levels and PMS for younger women as well.

Inflammatory bowel disease

Patients with active ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), especially those who take corticosteroids, are often deficient in vitamin D, a study in Digestive Diseases and Sciences suggested, and some researchers believe deficiency could have a role not only in increasing the risk of developing IBD but also in determining the severity of a person's symptoms.

Alopecia and hair loss

Women with female pattern hair loss had significantly lower levels of vitamin D than those without hair loss, a study in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology found. The vitamin is crucial for hair cycling, and helps push hair from its resting phase to the growing phase. Turkish researchers found that patients with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that attacks follicles and can cause hair loss all over the body, had significantly lower levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D than folks without the condition, and the lower their D levels, the more severe their disease.

Insulin resistance

Insulin resistance, which leads to glucose buildup in the blood and type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, has been linked to vitamin D deficiency for quite some time. But the correlation was not proved.

Eczema

Research suggests that children with atopic dermatitis, a type of eczema, have more severe symptoms the lower their vitamin D levels. Indeed, eczema tends to worsen in the winter when the air is dry and we get less sunlight to receive vitamin D.

The Sirtfood Weight-loss Diet

The Sirtfood Diet was founded in 2016 by nutritionists Aidan Goggins and Glen Matten. It is touted for rapid weight loss, claiming to help people lose seven pounds in seven days. But this requires you to restrict yourself to 1,000 calories per day for that time. But the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends 1,600 to 2,400 calories a day for women and 2,000 to 3,000 a day for men.

Another one of the diet's distinguishing qualities is that it incorporates more indulgent foods like dark chocolate and red wine alongside traditional, healthier options like kale, strawberries, and other whole foods.

The Sirtfood Diet is built around natural compounds found in fruits and vegetables called polyphenols. Some polyphenols mimic the effects of fasting and exercise by activating proteins in our bodies called sirtuins, which play a role in how the body metabolizes sugar and stores fat, especially during periods of fasting or severe caloric restriction.

For the Sirtfood Diet, Goggins and Matten recommend eating a lot of foods that are rich in polyphenols in order to activate sirtuins in the body. They call these foods "sirtfoods" — hence the diet's name.

Common sirtfoods that the diet promotes include: 

• Arugula

• Blueberries

• Buckwheat

• Celery

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Kale

• Onions

• Parsley

• Soy

• Strawberries

• Walnuts      

Followers of this diet plan can also expect to drink a lot of sirtfood-full juices that contain ingredients like kale, arugula, parsley, green apple, ginger and matcha powder.

The Sirtfood Diet has two phases

Phase 1

Length: 7 days

Days 1-3: drink three green juices and eat one sirtfood-rich meal per day. The daily caloric intake should be 1,000 calories regardless of age, gender, or weight.

Days 4-7: include two green juices and two sirtfood meals bringing the caloric intake up to 1,500 calories. This phase is intended to shed 7 pounds in the first week, mostly due to the drastic calorie reduction.

Phase 2

Length: 14 days

In this phase, you will have three sirtfood meals and one green juice each day. The focus is not on counting calories, but eating balanced, sensibly portioned meals. Dieters are expected to steadily lose weight.

After three weeks, when phase 2 has ended, you can drink green juice each day and eating a sirtfood-rich diet to sustain weight loss.

But dietitians caution that people with diabetes or other chronic conditions could face serious health risks on this diet. So, before trying, it is always advised to consult a doctor first about potential risks you may face.

Healthy eating for kids

"Children are born with an ability to eat to their energy needs and then stop," said Alexis Wood, an assistant professor of nutrition at Baylor College of Medicine.

Thus you can create a structured environment that enables kids to learn to trust their own bodies, allowing them to self-regulate their appetites to prevent obesity in children.

Rather than focusing on how much their child eats, parents should model how they want their children to eat and create a home environment structured to foster positive habits.

In trying to coerce kids into eating healthy foods such as whole grains or vegetables and having healthy eating behaviors, parents could inadvertently make their children overeat and past their point of fullness. But it is important to eat for their own internal satiety, not for an external reward.

By modeling, parents can give kids a framework to help set their little ones up healthy eating habits as they mature.

Pairing nutritious foods like carrots and parsnips with something sweeter, like a dipping sauce, is a way of helping kids warm up to healthier choices.

Besides just serving children foods naturally low in salt, you can instill a taste for healthier seasonings by using herbs, spices or lemon juice in your cooking instead.

Incorporate healthy foods into things they already like: you can pair healthy foods with more delectable ones. If your kids like ranch dressing, for instance, roll with that. Give them carrots and celery and broccoli to dip in the dressing to make the healthy stuff go down easier.

Model right eating behaviors: make sure to "enthusiastically enjoy" those foods as you eat them.

Serve healthy food consistently: kids with a sweet tooth might not gravitate toward vegetables, but you can nudge them along first by serving healthy foods without expectation that kids have to eat them and also create a household environment where "less desired” food choices are just not around.

Tips to Sleep

Sleeping is the bedrock of our lives. The lack of it can make us more impatient and more stressed.

Cardiovascular exercise, strength training and yoga can help us sleep better. Exercising during the day is better than working out at night due to body temperature and heart rhythm fluctuations.  Exercising can stimulate adenosine, which builds sleep pressure. Daytime energy expenditure means more sleep pressure and, usually, improved sleep. 

Body temperature is directly related to sleep and there is a natural decline in body temperature that occurs at night to signal your body to sleep, according to Dr. Candice Seti, a licensed psychologist and certified insomnia treatment clinician.

“There are things you can do to help your body temperature trigger sleep,” Seti said. “One of them is exercise. When you exercise, your body temperature rises. That temperature rise maintains for a few hours and then it steadily starts to drop. This drop can work with your body’s natural circadian rhythm and help promote sleepiness.”

“The way to do that is to get in 30 to 45 minutes of moderate-level aerobic activity and do it about 3 to 6 hours before bedtime,” she added.

Exercising shortly before going to bed is a bad idea.

“It can cause insomnia for many,” said Bill Fish, a certified sleep coach.

“You should be completely relaxed at least 45 minutes before going to bed,” Fish said. “Meaning, if you do work out, you should be showered and back to normal body temperature at least 45 minutes prior, to give your body time to relax and prepare for rest.”

“Beyond that, as long as you are getting 30 minutes of cardio throughout the day, you put yourself in a good position to get to rest quickly,” he noted.

In addition, to sleep well, avoid screen time in the hours before going to bed. This is because increased exposure to blue light from screens will decrease melatonin, which usually fluctuates with our circadian rhythm, impairing sleep.