photo credit: wiennat

A story currently making rounds on the interwebs makes vague claims about how eating 1.8oz of processed meat per day, the equivalent of one sausage, increases your risk of bowel cancer by 20%. Blogs like That’s Fit are picking up the story, as originally reported in UK papers like the Daily Mail:

One sausage a day can significantly raise the risk of bowel cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease, experts have warned.

Eating 1.8oz (50g) of processed meat a day – the equivalent of one sausage or three rashers of bacon – raises the likelihood of the cancer by a fifth, research shows.

Never satisfied with vague, oblique references like “studies show,” I did some digging to find a study that actually backs up this claim. A search on Medical News Today results in this article:

For most Americans, meals tend to center around meat. To significantly decrease a person’s risks of developing colorectal cancer, experts at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center suggest a new approach to meal planning that focuses more on fruit and vegetable dishes.

According to recent findings issued by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), consuming more than 18 ounces, or a little over a pound, of red meat (pork, beef, lamb and goat) each week can significantly increase a person’s risks for developing colorectal cancer. In addition, every ounce and a half of red meat a person eats over 18 ounces increases their risks by 15 percent.

AICR also recommends eating very little processed meat (meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting or adding chemical preservatives), such as ham, bacon, hot dogs, sausages, pastrami and salami. Every ounce and a half of processed meat eaten a day is thought to increase a person’s risks of developing colorectal cancer by 21 percent.

Experts at University of Texas suggest? Recent findings issued by AICR? Still not satisfied, I do a little searching at AICR’s website, which doesn’t provide any further information or studies backing up the claims. I next head to the World Cancer Research Fund’s UK website, which is cited by several news stories, and find what appears to be the story’s origin:

Last year we published our Expert Report, which analysed 7,000 studies on the link between lifestyle and cancer risk and then made 10 recommendations on how to reduce cancer risk.

The report found convincing evidence that red meat and processed meat are a cause of bowel cancer. Because of this, we recommend people limit consumption of red meat to 500g per week (cooked weight) and to avoid eating processed meat…

Processed meat is any type of meat that is preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or by adding preservatives. Examples of this are ham, bacon, pastrami and salami. Hamburgers and minced meats only count as processed meat if they have been preserved with salt or chemical additives.

There you have it – the story is based on a report which analyzed “7,000 studies” and made a determination based on that analysis. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting processed meat isn’t bad for you, and avoid it like the plague myself. I simply dislike reading news articles making vague references to things that “studies suggest” without providing the evidence. News agencies don’t have a very good track record of accurately reporting health news, as inaccuracies arise when dense stories are condensed into soundbites and short timelines are met. Excluding information on studies or reports that originate the story make me question news articles that much more.

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photo credit: ex.libris

Recently, Medical News Today ran an article about a study conducted in Sweden on the effects of a vegan diet on indicators of cardiovascular disease. Researchers are looking for alternative methods for treating cardiovascular disease indicators, like high cholesterol, for people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. While the study only included 66 participants, 38 of which were assigned to the gluten-free vegan diet, there was some indication the participants on the gluten-free diet dropped cholesterol and weight:

The study found that there were reductions in weight and ‘bad’ cholesterol for those on the vegan diet. However, it did not involve enough people or last long enough to look at the effects of the vegan diet on cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks or strokes. Furthermore, the long-term effects of the gluten-free vegan diet are uncertain. Many of the people assigned to the vegan diet [almost half] did not keep it up for the entire year, and it may be difficult for people used to a non-vegan diet to make such a big change in their eating habits.

It is not clear from this study whether the gluten-free vegan diet offers any specific advantages over other healthy diets aimed at reducing bad cholesterol or weight loss. All individuals who wish to reduce their chances of cardiovascular disease should aim to eat a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, stop smoking and do an appropriate level of exercise.

It’s easy to see why half the participants on the gluten-free diet dropped out – their diet consisted solely of “vegetables, nuts, fruits, buckwheat, millet, rice, corn, sunflower and sesame seeds.” It’s unclear, of course, how creative the study conductors were with assembling the ingredients into meals. I imagine, no matter what, it must be hard to take people who are used to meat and cheese diets and remove everything familiar in favor of gluten-free food. It will be interesting to see if this study inspires another specifically designed to study the health benefits of a gluten-free vegan diet versus other diets.

The article ends with this tidbit:

Sir Muir Gray adds… The evidence is mounting; if you want to stay healthy and save the planet – eat less, eat more plants and eat only food that your great grandmother would recognise if she were alive today.

Of course, it’s not that easy any more. The foods my great grandmother would recognize, like chicken and beef, may look the same, but are now full of corn, calories and chemicals that have changed the health value beyond recognition. Healthy eaters are once again relegated to foraging for food, but the landscape has changed – no longer are we hunting and gathering in the wild jungles, but instead grocery stores and restaurant chains.

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I recently learned and wrote about a study connecting high glycemic index diets to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and gall stones. Since then, I read an article at CalorieLab about the glycemic index and how high or low glycemic diets can affect your health. Particularly interesting is the physiological explanation for why selecting low glycemic index foods is important:

Carbohydrate with a high GI is digested quickly, resulting in a rapid elevation of blood sugar and a swift rise in insulin. Most sweets, but also potatoes, white rice and refined cereals and breads fall into this category.

Foods with a low GI are digested and absorbed more slowly, causing a more gradual rise in blood sugar and preventing rapid spikes in insulin levels. These foods include whole-grain breads, pasta, beans and most fruits and vegetables.

Also of note were studies that revealed overweight/obese or insulin-resistant subjects lost more weight on low glycemic index diets than low fat diets. However, one shouldn’t focus solely on the glycemic index when selecting foods, as many healthy foods (like some whole grains) fall fairly high on the index. As the article says,

A review of how carbohydrate choice and amount affect weight control notes that eating more whole grains is usually linked to healthier weights, whereas eating more refined grains is not. This is significant because whole grain choices, including grains like oatmeal, bulgur and brown rice, are not necessarily low-GI.

In theory, keeping in mind the GI of foods to lower risk of diabetes, overweight, and perhaps even heart disease and cancer makes sense. However, focusing on an exclusively low-GI diet could lead some people to adopt a less healthful eating pattern. This is particularly concerning if people exclude some higher GI, yet healthful foods and include excessive amounts of high-calorie, fatty foods or alcohol just because they are low-GI.

The moral of the story? While the GI may not be the “magic bullet” to weight loss, it should play an important role in selecting the foods you eat. You can find more information about the GI at the official website of the Glycemic Index.

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Far from a typical theme park, Epcot offers visitors a blend of entertainment and education. Using fun, animatronics and Disney flair, Epcot urges recognition of the part one plays in the world, the environment, and our shared future. At Epcot’s Futureworld, visitors experience space, sea, speed, land and imagination, and the one thing that ties all the disparate experiences together is, of course, food.

Below, I’ll list vendors and restaurants offering healthier snacks and meals. We’re compiling most of the information below from great Disney sites like MousePlanet.com and AllEars.net. If you’re not like the folks at the WDW Today Podcast who can visualize every nook and cranny, you might want to review a park map like the one found at http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/. Also, keep in mind I am in no way proposing the suggestions below are healthy, particularly since I have no nutrition information – rather, the suggestions appear healthier in comparison to the standard fare. Finally, we’ll be skipping the character meals, because let’s be honest – if you’re paying for a character meal, you’re paying for the experience, not the food. With that in mind, let’s get started!

photo credit: Mista Gargoyle

Sunshine Season Food Fair
Land Pavillion, located in lower level outside entrance to Soaring.

After taking a leisurely flight over California, a boat ride through the history and future of agriculture and learned about the Circle of Life, Sunshine Season Food Fair offers a great (albeit loud) place to catch your breath before continuing your adventure. Sunshine Season is a huge counter-service area with many options for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, and organized into “bays” serving different foods. The Asian area offers steamed vegetables, sushi and (usually) a vegetarian meal option. There are several fish options, including Seared Tuna on Mixed Greens with Sesame Rice Wine dressing and Grilled Salmon with Mashed Potatoes with Kalamata Olive Pesto. If you’re not keen on fish, both the Grilled Vegetable Cuban Sandwich and Rotisserie Chicken or Beef Flatbread with Wild Greens and Tabbouleh appear to be tasty, healthy alternatives.

photo credit: ColeMatthew – all rights reserved

Coral Reef Restaurant
Living Seas Pavillion, located just inside main entrance.

Coral Reef offers a pleasant, if pricey, dining experience, providing guests full view to large fish tanks – photos like this one illustrate the dining experience. As MousePlanet puts it, “For some, there may be a bit of a cognitive disconnect in serving a mostly-seafood menu while watching fish swim around you.” Or as Len Testa eloquently puts it, “them’s good eatin’!” If you don’t mind eying both before and after versions of your meal at the same time, Coral Reef does have some healthy-sounding alternatives, including Pan-seared Tilapia – served with a roasted white and green bean salad tossed in a tomato vinaigrette and Grilled Mahi Mahi – served over Israeli couscous and arugula with honey soy glaze. Land-lubbers can try the Grilled Chicken Breast – with Jasmine rice and chicken broth.

photo credit: XISMZERO – all rights reserved

Electric Umbrella Restaurant
Future World, located inside Innoventions West near the Fountain.

Electric Umbrella offers fast counter-service fare with a few healthy alternatives to the standard hamburger. If you’re in the mood for a quick salad, try the Tossed Island Chicken Salad with mango, pineapple, and raisins, in a fat-free Italian dressing. If you’re more in the mood for a quick sandwich, try the Vegetable Wrap with hummus, zucchini, lettuce, cucumber, carrotts, roasted red peppers, balsamic vinaigrette and apple slices or Grilled Chicken Sandwich – with lettuce and tomato served with a wheat bun with apple slices. Or, if you’re really courageous, you could try the Len Testa Build-Your-Own-Salad salad bar(otherwise known as the fixins bar), although you might get some odd stares.

Next up – Epcot’s World Showcase.

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photo credit: Zesmerelda

An article on the Food Law Prof Blog, something I read nearly daily, pointed me to an interesting article on Medical News Today about a study connecting diets with high glycemic index and diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and gall stones.

The study provides compelling evidence that diets with a high GI or a high GL will increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. It also shows there is good evidence for links between high blood glucose and gall stones and some types of cancer.

‘The GI is a physiologically-based ranking that distinguishes how different carbohydrate foods (sugars and starches) affect your blood glucose levels.’

‘If you eat carbohydrate foods (sugars or starches) that break down quickly during digestion, the blood glucose response is fast and high – in other words, the glucose in the bloodstream increases rapidly. These foods have the highest GI values.’

…If you have constantly high blood glucose and insulin levels due to eating a high GI diet, you may literally “wear out” your pancreas over time and eventually this can lead to pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.’

So what does this mean? Actually, nothing new – it’s long been touted that we should moderate our intake of processed and starchy foods, which commonly factor much higher on the glycemic index. The official website of the Glycemic Index offers these general tips for staying low on the index:

• Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran
• Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough
• Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat
• Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables
• Use Basmati or Doongara rice
• Enjoy pasta, noodles, quinoa
• Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing

The Glycemic Index site also provides a database for researching the glycemic index value for different foods. From personal experience, I can recommend substituting sugar (58 on the GI) or honey (70+ on the GI) with agave (11 on the GI). I’ve written about agave before, and still use it frequently.

Do you factor in your foods’ glycemic index values when choosing meals? What are your best GI tips?

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photo credit: Calamity Meg

With a staggering 16.64 million guests a year, Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is consistently the most-visited theme park in the world. With that kind of volume, I would expect Disney to concentrate on cheap, consistent foods that appeal to the general masses and are quick to devour (like the 1400-calorie turkey legs), which pretty much cuts out most healthy meal choices. However, even with this volume, Disney manages to make some healthier choices available at Magic Kingdom – the trick is knowing where to find them.

Below, I’ll list vendors and restaurants offering healthier snacks and meals. We’re compiling most of the information below from great Disney sites like MousePlanet.com and AllEars.net. If you’re not like the folks at the WDW Today Podcast who can visualize every nook and cranny, you might want to review a park map like the one found at http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/. Also, keep in mind I am in no way proposing the suggestions below are healthy, particularly since I have no nutrition information – rather, the suggestions appear healthier in comparison to the standard fare. Finally, we’ll be skipping the character meals, because let’s be honest – if you’re paying for a character meal, you’re paying for the experience, not the food. With that in mind, let’s get started!

Snacks

photo credit: stretchdog

Aloha Isle
Adventureland, located just past the entrance from Main Street.

Aloha Aisle is home of the absolutely scrumptious Dole Whip pineapple soft serve ice cream. Unfortunately, it’s ice cream, so we’ll have to overlook it in favor of the fresh pineapple spears – a great snack and a good alternative to the common apples and carrots found elsewhere. If you’re thirsty and in the mood for juice, Aloha Isle offers apple, orange and – of course – pineapple.

photo credit: pinkpollyanna

Liberty Square Market
Liberty Square, located across from the Liberty Square Riverboat and next to the Hall of Presidents

If you’re craving fruit, Liberty Square Market has the biggest selection. It’s a little pricey, but then, so are the hamburgers. At the Market, you’ll find grapes, apple sauce, oranges, apples, bananas, watermelon and mixed fruit bowls. They also offer pickles, corn on the cob, carrot sticks and celery sticks. Trust me – get your snacks here and bank your calories for a Dole Whip dessert at Aloha Isle. You won’t regret it.

photo credit: joeandy

Main Street Bakery
Main Street, located halfway down Main Street on right

Apple turnovers, Mickey head frosted cookies, banana bread pudding – Disney lists Main Street Bakery as an official location for purchasing fresh fruit. Beware, however – it will take some serious willpower to resist all those sweet treats in favor of fruit. Fruit selection, which according to Allears.net includes strawberries and cantaloupe, likely changes with the season. What doesn’t change is the danger of hiding a cheesecake slice under those fresh strawberries.

photo credit: BMS-LOU – all rights reserved

Toontown Farmers Market
Toontown, located between The Barnstormer and Donald’s Boat.

Like the Main Street Bakery, Toontown Farmers Market is an official location for purchasing fresh fruit. The Market is conveniently located across the street from the character meet & greet site at the Judge’s Tent, allowing one parent to wade through multiple queues obtaining pictures and autographs from various princesses and woodland creatures while another forages through the cotton candy and popcorn to find apples, fruit cups, oranges, grapes, bananas, yogurt cups and frozen lemonade.

Meals

photo credit: andreaweckerle

Columbia Harbour House
Liberty Square, located across from Haunted Mansion’s entrance.

Fried fish, fried chicken, french fries – this restaurant gives all appearances of being a standard fried seafood joint. However, amidst all the batter there are a couple of healthier alternative meals to be had, starting with their Lighthouse Sandwich (hummus with tomato & broccoli slaw). If you’re still hungry, add a bowl of vegetarian chili. Finally, if you’re more in the mood for a salad, they’ve got you covered with their Garden Galley Salad (mixed greens with chicken, pecans, pineapple and feta cheese), and I’m sure you can request they hold the cheese.

photo credit: zesmerelda

Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe
Tomorrowland, located across from the Tomorrowland Speedway loading area.

Home of the purple ketchup, Cosmic Ray’s offers three counter-service “bays”, each with its own selection of food: Unhealthy, Unhealthier and Passable…. I mean Chicken, Burgers and Sandwiches. Skip Burgers, don’t collect your 200 extra calories and head directly to the Sandwich bay, where you’ll find humongous Chicken Wraps with a side of Strawberry Yogurt, apples or grapes. Beats a burger any day.

photo credit: stretchdog

Plaza Restaurant
Main Street, located at the end of Main Street on the right, next to Plaza Ice Cream Parlor.

Decorated as a turn-of-the-century ice cream parlor restaurant, Plaza Restaurant hosts a variety of sandwiches and salads. For healthier alternatives, skip the famous Reuben and head straight for a Chicken Strawberry Salad (fresh garden greens, grilled chicken breast, fresh strawberries, gorgonzola cheese, tossed in a white zinfandel vinaigrette dressing) or Vegetarian Sandwich (fresh mozzarella, hummus, basil pesto, cucumber, roasted red pepper, vine-ripened tomato, and lettuce on a freshly baked foccaccia bread served with sweet potato chips). Other offerings that appear to be on the lighter side include the Tuna Salad Sandwich, Turkey Sandwich and Plaza Club. As with any sandwiches, hold the mayo to keep the extra calories down.

photo credit: sansaarai – all rights reserved

Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station
Tomorrowland, located at the entrance of Tomorrowland from Main Street past Plaza Restaurant.

Open seasonally, the Noodle Station offers a pleasant alternative to the ubiquitous hamburgers and chicken strips. Best described as “Asian inspired,” the Noodle Station serves noodle bowls such as Chicken Noodle Bowl and Vegetable Noodle Bowl with Tofu. Also available are Teriyaki Chicken or Tofu and Beef and Broccoli, both served with steamed white rice. Also, an added perk – the terrace provides a nice view of the castle during the fireworks show.

photo credit: cafeplushenko – all rights reserved

Tony’s Town Square
Main Street, located on the right side of Town Square as you enter the park.

If you like seafood, Italian cuisine or Lady and the Tramp, Tony’s has you covered. Amidst the cheese and bread you’ll find dishes like their Grilled Salmon (over Mixed Greens with beets, feta, and candied walnuts, tossed in an orange-shallot vinaigrette), Catch of the Day (served with Orzo pasta tossed with pancetta, roasted garlic and seasonal vegetables topped with balsamic maple glaze) and Seafood Diavoli (linguini pasta with clams, mussels, calamari, shrimp, and salmon in a spicy tomato sauce). You can even splurge on a healthy(ier) dessert with a Seasonal No-Sugar Added Sorbet with fruit.

From fruit to fish and Asian to Italian, Magic Kingdom makes available many more food options than hamburgers and fries. Did I miss your favorite haunt for healthy(ier) meal and snack alternatives? I’d love to hear about it – leave me a comment below.

Next up – Epcot!

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photo credit: disneyandy

I love Disney World. No really, I *LOVE* Disney World. From the moment I enter the “happiest place on Earth” to the moment my vacation ends with the “saddest drive on Earth,” I feel nothing but magic and peace… except, of course, at meal times. The “happiest place on Earth” has traditionally also been home to the unhealthiest food on Earth – greasy hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, turkey legs, fried chicken fingers. Not exactly the kind of faire I’d like to be consuming for six days straight.

Before heading to Disney World this past trip a couple weeks ago, I ran across this article at CalorieLab discussing the difficulties the author’s family experienced finding healthy food at Disney World. The author makes some good points – in general, fruits and vegetables aren’t as available as hamburgers and Mickey-shaped ice cream sandwiches, and while meal choices have become more nutritionally desirable, snack choices are still generally abysmal. But is the author’s basic premise, that healthy choices are “hard to find,” really accurate? I decided to pay attention on this trip and find out. I’ll cover each park in detail, pointing out where healthy choices can be found, over the next few articles. To start with, however, here’s some healthy-eating tips that apply to all the parks.

Nutritional information is generally not available.
Disney World maintains four e-mail addresses (one for each park) for nutrition information requests. I wrote to each address, explaining I have to strictly monitor my daily caloric intake and asking for nutrition information for their in-park restaurants. I imagine the employees receiving my query wondered why the **** I am visiting Disney World if I’m worried about what foods I’m eating, but they politely responded with “our foods change so frequently it is impossible to maintain that kind of information.” I received the same response at counter-service and seated restaurants. If you have particular dietary needs like food allergies, you can submit a form before visiting the parks and it appears restaurants will bend over backwards to meet your needs. There’s also a highly-recommended book, [amazonify]158771048X::text::::Passporter’s Open Mouse by Deb Wills and Debra Koma[/amazonify], that covers how best to handle many “special needs” issues, including diet, when visiting Disney World. For poor schlubs like me that just want to count their calories, it looks like we have to rely on educated guesses.

photo credit: mfshadow

All turkey legs are created equal.
One item of interest I received from the Disney nutrition e-mail contacts was a list of portion sizes and general ingredients for several common snack and counter-service items. I compiled a couple of those documents to create the table below. It’s worth doing a little research into the caloric content in these foods – for example, one turkey leg contains approximately 2 calories per gram, or over 1400 calories. Articles like this one from the Orange County Register are rare, but seem to support general guesses, which is all I can make until Disney starts publishing nutrition information.

Bring your own snacks and bottled water.
One thing the Disney respondents shared was this tidbit:

The Guests are allowed to bring food items, such as snacks or foods that do not require heating, into any WALT DISNEY WORLD® Theme Park. Just inform a Security Cast Member checking the bags that you have food allergies and they will gladly allow you to bring in these items.

I always bring a few [amazonify]B000GFG5XK::text::::Odwalla Bars[/amazonify] with me, which serve as my snacks throughout the day. I typically visit a grocery store like the one at Crossroads on my first day, buy a week’s worth of bars and a few bottled waters, and freeze the water overnight so it melts throughout the day and stays cool. This way, I steer clear of high-calorie snacks like ice cream and pretzels, save money I would otherwise spend on expensive snacks and bottled water, and save the 30 minutes it would normally take to stand in line and eat so I can …. well, stand in a different line.

photo credit: avainyeh

Search for the fruit.
If you’re going to spend the cash for snacks at Disney World, you still have healthy alternative options, most notably fresh fruit. According to Disney, there are some permanent sources for purchasing fresh fruit in the parks. On entering the park, take a look at the map to locate the fruit vendors and plan to pass by those areas at “snack times.” Disney’s recommended fruit vendors include:

• Magic Kindgom: Liberty Square Market (seasonal), Mickey’s Toontown Farmers Market, Main Street Bakery
• Epcot: “Most quick service locations” [From previous experience, the Land pavillion consistently sells fruit, but I don't recall a comparable vendor in World Showcase]
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Sunset Ranch Market, ABC Commissary
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom: Harambe Fruit Market, Drinkwallah

Do you have healthy eating tips you’d like to share, or favorite places to buy healthy snacks? I’d love to hear them – please share in the comments below. Next stop – healthy(ier) eating at the Magic Kindgom!

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Today I’m going to start with an old favorite – Wendy’s. I admit, I’m a creature of habit and really like Wendy’s Spicy Chicken sandwich combo. Per their nutrition page that provides me

• Sandwich : 480 Calories
• Small Fries : 370 Calories
• Medium Soda : 220 Calories
• Total : 1070 Calories

So it looks like it’s just at what would be a good goal for me. But I want to modify these numbers just a bit for two reasons. First, I typically get at least one refill on soda. That’s 220 more calories, for a total of 1290. At the same time there is a tendency for Fast Food companies to under-report the caloric value of the foods the make. It’s usually considered within statistical error, but often enough that the values should be taken with a grain of salt. I’m going to increase the value by 5% in an attempt to adjust for that. Wow, that places the end value at 1355. That additional 350 calories cost me another 30 minutes on the treadmill. What can I do differently?

• Sandwich : 480 Calories
• Small Fries : 370 Calories
• Medium Soda : 220 Calories

Well, straight away if I remove soda I get a total of just under 900 Calories. That’s even with my 5% adjustment. It’s amazing how much soda can effect your diet. Maybe you don’t like chicken. You could replace it with,say, a Double Jr or a single Classic. The frescata sandwiches have just as many calories or more than my beloved spicy chicken. And even more surprising are the salads, for most of them with provided condiments have as many calories or more than the sandwiches, save only the Caesar.

So, I wonder. Are my instincts strong enough that if I remove soda from most of the combo meals, I would be able to keep me within my goal of 1000 calories? We will have to see.

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See at home, we are careful that we only cook enough food for 3 servings – 2 for dinner that night between myself and my wife, and one serving for her to take to work for lunch the next day. That way we don’t eat too much, and regulate portion size. At the same time, we don’t visit buffets usually. The only exception is a great Italian place that I seem to be able to control myself at. Hey, if I’m not honest with y’all why do this?

But Saturday was a one-two punch. Starting about 4pm, I was able to snack on dips, appetizers, sodas, and more. Little bit here, small plate there. Six o’clock brought southern BBQ. I did good with one plate, but it was stacked high. More deserts. At 8pm, we left the reception to go to a birthday party. Chocolate cake and more food, of course. We finally got home about 11:00pm, and I felt like I had experienced an oddly placed Thanksgiving.

See, if food is there, I eat. It’s that casual background activity for me that I don’t pay attention to. I’d rather talk, or cheer someone one playing the wii. This is especially true when the food is not freshly cooked. Why care about complementing the host about that bag of Doritos? It’s just something to keep my hands busy.

I was lucky in this case. I had spent 2 hrs in the gym earlier that day: running, lifting, and karate. So I had a nice enough deficit that it didn’t throw my body for a loop. But I’m looking for suggestions. There will be times when I can’t avoid such free access to food. How do you prevent yourself from going overboard?

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“What we found was that it did not matter whether a reduction in calories was achieved through diet or burned everyday through exercise.”

The study consisted of 3 groups. One reduced daily caloric intake by 25% while another reduced their intake by 12.5% and increased their exercise by 12.5%. The remaining people were the control group and did nothing. At the end, both test groups lost the same amount of weight, and apparently in a very similar manner.

These results lend credence to methods of dieting like the Hacker’s Diet. Simply eat less calories than you use. And it is fairly easy to see math behind it, which dovetails into the philosophy of this site. So I’m going to translate it over into banking math. It’s different than normal financial goals because you want to decrease the value “stored”, but from an equations point of view it works similar enough.

Consider your body like a Checking account. Anything you eat is a deposit. Anything you do, at all, is a withdrawal. So we end up with something like this:

C.account(today) = C.account(yesterday) + Consume - Life - Exercise

That would be the equation for control group. Most people eat approximately the same amount every day, so C.account doesn’t change from day to day. And just living life uses up some calories. The beating of the heart, breathing, heck even digesting food takes work. At the same time, these people might get a certain amount of exercise already. The study indicates that they are healthy, just overweight.

For group one, the scientists modified the equation this way.

C.account(today) = C.account(yesterday) + 0.75 * Consume - Life - Exercise.

Since you are not taking in as many calories as before, while still maintaining everything else, your body has no other choice but to convert stored energy back over. If your paycheck got cut you would have to start digging more and more into savings.

What about group two?

C.account(today) = C.account(yesterday) + 0.875 * Consume - Life - 1.125 * Exercise.

In this case your income/caloric intake hasn’t reduced as much as group one, but at the same time you are spending more above basic necessities. So the over all loss is the same as group one.

The Reuters article does raise a good point, that I think alot of people miss. It just focuses on weight loss. There are lots of supplementary benefits from exercise. For example exercise improves aerobic fitness and lowers the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. And that’s just the short list. A full thousand words could be written about the benefits of exercise without breaking a sweat. It’s just nice to see people acknowledging the underlying properties what has to happen.

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