Heena Sharma Blog

Avoiding greasy, fatty and oily foods is the key to a successful dieting plan . But have you ever wondered why we tend to crave the very foods that we try to avoid when dieting? Or wished you could suppress the feeling before it forced you into eating junk food? A recent study identified new brain circuits that may act as a brake on binge eating and junk food craving. Findings of the study were published in the Journal of Behavioral Brain Research. "Craving for foods high in fat - this includes many junk foods - is an important part of obesity and binge eating," said Jonathan Hommel, lead author of the study. "When trying to lose weight people often strive to avoid fatty foods, which ironically increases motivation and craving for these foods and can lead to overeating. Even worse, the longer someone abstains from fatty foods, the greater the cravings become," Hommel explained. Read More Business Standard

Yo-yo dieting , or weight cycling, or the cyclical loss and gain of weight is associated with a higher death risk, researchers have warned. A study found that this form of dieting leads to adverse health outcomes and 80 per cent of people who lose weight gradually regain either the same weight or even more than they had before going on a diet. The Endocrine Society's Scientific statement on the causes of obesity found that this was because once an individual loses weight, the body typically reduces the amount of energy expended at rest, during exercises and daily activities. While it increases hunger, thereby creating conditions for weight gain. "This study shows that weight cycling can heighten a person's risk of death," said Hak C. Jang, Professor from the Seoul National University (SNU) in South Korea. Read More Business Standard

Do you eat food more often? According to a study, longer daily fasting times or increasing the duration between meals, regardless of calorie intake as well as diet composition, can make men more healthy and help them live longer, compared to those who eat more frequently, researchers say. In the study, meal-fed and calorie-restricted male mice showed improvements in overall health -- common age-related damage to the liver and other organs -- and an extended longevity. The calorie-restricted mice also showed significant improvement in fasting glucose and insulin levels. "Increasing daily fasting times, without a reduction of calories and regardless of the type of diet consumed, resulted in overall improvements in health and survival in male mice," said lead author Rafael de Cabo, from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Read Complete Article