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Friday, August 03, 2007

All the News That's Fit to Eat

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By Joanne Eglash
eDiets Healthy Lifestyle Columnist

The Influence of Friends
Do you have problems losing weight? Do your friends and relatives tell you, "Oh, don't worry about your waistline - you look fine!"? If you and your friends and/or relatives love to dine together at all-you-can-eat buffets, adore meeting at the ice cream parlor for a sweet treat, and enjoy a weekly potluck featuring high-calorie foods like Fettuccine Alfredo, you may want to consider expanding your social network.

As part of the Framingham Heart Study, researchers compared various statistics to see how people who interact regularly affect the weight of their allies. Their analysis revealed that the probability that a person would become obese increased by 57 percent if a friend became obese, by 40 percent if a sibling became obese, and by 37 percent if the weight gain occurred in a spouse. In other words: it's not just what you eat - but with whom you eat - that can make a difference in your diet success.

Your Waistline is Key in Health
Your level of fitness plays an important role in your risk for heart disease and diabetes, according to a medical research team in Quebec. A higher degree of cardio-respiratory fitness results in a trimmer waistline. The result: someone can be overweight and fit, yet have a lower risk of a heart condition than a person who is normal weight but following a couch potato lifestyle, resulting in more abdominal fat. The initial study was conducted on a group of men.

The researchers are now comparing women's results. Their conclusion at this point is that the measurement of your waistline is a key factor in evaluating your health, as are your triglyceride levels. This conclusion contrasts with the current emphasis on your body mass index (BMI) as one of the main factors in evaluating your future health.

More Bad News for Soda Lovers
During these hot days of summer, I frequently drink more diet soda.

"Hey, it's sugar-free, and I always get the caffeine-free kind," I defended myself whenever the "I never eat or drink junk food" guy in the office where I work teased me for my carbonation addiction.

So much for my defense. A new research study indicates that all sodas - even my beloved diet, caffeine-free variety - may result in a 50 percent higher risk of metabolic syndrome. And that’s not good. The author of the study, a Boston University School of Medicine physician, noted that just one or more sodas per day result in a higher potential for such risk factors as low levels of good cholesterol, hypertension, and excess fat around the waist. In addition, adults who drink those sodas have more than a 30 percent higher chance of becoming obese.

Do not translate those results, however, to mean freedom to tell yourself, "Well, if I'm going to have a soda and it doesn't matter, I might as well go all-out and have a good ol' fashioned sugary soda." Wrong. Sodas with added sugar still have more empty calories that will add to, not enhance, your waistline.

Sigh. Please pass the water.
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