Tag Archives: diet

Nosh Detox – bespoke food delivery within the M25 area only

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10% off

Email: info@noshdetoxdelivery.com T: 0845 2576674
Web site www.noshdetoxdelivery.com

· Put on extra pounds that just won’t shift?
· Feeling lethargic and low?
· Post-pregnancy weight and no time to spend on yourself?
· Too tired after work to cook and eat properly?

Then Natural Organic Safe and Healthy is for you

At last, innovative company, Nosh has created a unique service that delivers nutritious and appetising organic, dairy and gluten free meals direct to your door.

Eating healthy, delicious meals and getting in shape, all become much easier when you have a dedicated chef working for you. No longer just the preserve of stars and the super rich, Nosh’s highly trained chefs specialise in a variety of international cuisines and use only the highest standards of fresh, organic produce to create delicious, dairy and gluten free meals tailored to your lifestyle.

And it’s all so easy! Every morning Nosh will deliver specially prepared gourmet meals and snacks, for both you and your family that will both delight your taste buds and satisfy your dietary needs. So whether your aim is weight-loss, detox, or simply a long needed energy boost, you can forget recipe books and supermarkets, and concentrate on enjoying all your new found free time.

Brainchild of Geeta Sidhu-Robb, author of the best selling, ‘Food for All: Gluten, Diary, Egg and Nut Free Cookbook’, Nosh was founded in 2005, initially providing healthy food for babies and children. Geeta’s own son was diagnosed with anaphylaxis as a baby and went on to develop multiple food allergies, leading Geeta to retrain as a food technician with a mission to educate people in correct eating patterns and the benefits of a balanced diet.

Nosh is based in Chelsea and caters for customers within the M25 area of Greater London. At £39 Nosh is the only food delivery service that guarantees its customers organic diary and gluten free food – and you can taste the difference.
info@noshdetoxdelivery.com T: 0845 2576674
Website: www.noshdetoxdelivery.com

Eat your way to health with green cuisine

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London In the beautiful, tranquil surroundings of Penrhos Court, a Herefordshire manor farm on the Welsh borders, award-winning author, chef and nutritionist, Daphne Lambert, has run Greencuisine organic food, vitality and health courses for over 15 years.

Greencuisine offers a range of practical nutrition-based cookery courses using locally grown organic foods. Run in small groups and led by qualified practitioners- all who have many years of experience of helping people to achieve optimum health – Greencuisine courses provide hands-on tuition in the kitchen and individual nutritional advice, as well as daily Yoga classes, massage and gentle walks in the local countryside.

Greencuisine cookery courses are designed to revive and rejuvenate while enabling participants to see the joy of food and ways in which our diet directly affects health. Owner and Leading Nutritionist, Daphne Lambert, believes that we are what we eat and that the foods we choose have a significant effect on our health and wellbeing.

Daphne Lambert says: “With over 25% of British adults now obese and cases of type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer on the increase¹, there is an immediate need to re-evaluate our diets and re-educate ourselves about the ways in which the food we eat affects our health.

“In Britain today, one in three adults dies of heart disease² and a quarter of us die from cancer related deaths caused by unhealthy diet³. As a nation we have lost a significant level of understanding and knowledge about how we think about and prepare food. Our courses are designed to provide practical health advice from qualified practitioners as well as hands-on sessions in the kitchen learning to prepare nutritious organic food that can be easily made at home.”

All Greencuisine cookery courses are residential, fully catered and all diets catered for and foods included. Take-home cookery and health food course notes are provided to enable attendees to integrate what they have learnt into their everyday lifestyle.

Greencuisine Cookery Courses:

Food and Health – £605 five day course

An essential course for everybody who wants to understand more about the food they eat and the impact it has on our health and on the body. Learn how to prepare a wide selection of organic, fresh, seasonal food with expert advice from Daphne Lambert on maximising nutritional value. Discover the importance of whole foods, the benefits of juicing, understand the digestive system and take part in daily Yoga classes. This course is booking now for corporate team building days.

Women’s Health – £350 two day course

A long-established, two day course developed exclusively for women and centred on foods that promote vitality and health. Includes daily yoga classes and time spent in the kitchen learning to create a range of delicious and nutritious dishes such as sushi, almond, date and banana torte, cranberry and banana smoothie and hemp cheese.

Women’s Health – £699 five day course

The 5 day version of the WHC offers a more in depth combination of hands on cooking, diet awareness, nutrition, yoga and massage with Daphne Lambert, Sue Pembrey and Belinda Jobst. Plenty of time is spent in the kitchen creating dishes to help give health and vitality.

Living Nutrition – £1,400 four weekends one in each season

Now in its fifth year, Living Nutrition is an annual course run by Daphne Lambert and Dragana Vilinac exploring the relationship between the food we eat and our health and vitality. Learn practical skills for optimising health through cooking, understand how to make informed decisions about the food you buy and the environmental impact food production can have, develop an insight into Traditional Chinese Medicine and gain an understanding of how your body works and your own individual nutritional needs.

A Feast for the Soul – £550 weekend course

A Feast for the Soul is a journey of self discovery through the preparation and sharing of food. This enlightening and popular course is run by Daphne Lambert and Jonathan Snell both whom use their vast experience to demonstrate how food choices in our diet should not be based purely only on the physical but should embrace philosophical, emotional and spiritual perspectives. Jonathan is an expert in the phsychology of belief and behaviour and the physiology of movement and psycho-physical integration. The course involves lots of time spent in the kitchen and is built around discussions about our beliefs and understandings of food including reference to food stories, tales and legends.

Greencuisine also offers gift tokens that can be used to purchase any Greencuisine course. For further information or to book a place on a course visit www.greencuisine.org or call 01544 230720.

Win an olive tree and take the Med diet challenge with free recipes

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London: As the autumn days get shorter and darker, the prospect of living in sunnier pastures becomes all the more enticing. Whilst the majority of Brits go on holiday more than their parents did in their day, this is not enough for nearly two thirds of the population who dream of settling abroad.

Increasing numbers of Brits are opting for sunnier pastures with the majority tempted by a more relaxed and healthy lifestyle, according to a new survey by Italian food specialist Bertolli.

In the non-stop world of the 21st century, we are bombarded with new ways to stay healthy but sometimes they just seem to make life more complicated. It is unsurprising then that the most popular destination for those wishing to relocate was Italy. Why worry, when you could just sit back, relax and be inspired by the common sense of the traditional Mediterranean diet – a huge 95% of those asked agree that it’s healthier than the British diet after all.

We may not all be culinary experts yet 62% of us try to incorporate ingredients from foreign holidays into our everyday diet. However, 81% also agree that they’re never quite able to replicate the food we’ve had on holiday! Italian dishes such as risotto and pasta were the most popular for those trying their hand at foreign cuisine.

As well as fruit, vegetables, grains, and fresh fish, olive oil is an essential component of Italian cuisine – the olive tree is so full of goodness, its oil has been part of the traditional Mediterranean diet for thousands of years. Even though us Brits might not be able to enjoy every aspect of the Mediterranean lifestyle, you can enjoy a touch of olive oil in your diet with ease.

To win a beautiful olive tree for your own home, (UK residents only) simply email your answer the following question to readeroffer@elixirnews.com

Q What is Bertolli spread made from?
A. sunflower oil
B. olive oil
C. sesame seed oil

Rules: The prize: 1 beautiful olive tree (worth £50) – there is no cash equivalent available. The Editor’s decision is final. Competition closes 30 September 2007. The emails will be entered into a draw.

For more information visit www.bertolli.com

Healthy Mediterranean Recipes by Diane Seed
­Scallops Adriatic style­ (Capesante alla Adriatica)

Along the Adriatic coast that are small, tasty scallops cooked very simply so that their good flavour is not masked by other ingredients.

18 scallops 3 T freshly chopped parsley

2 cloves garlic 3 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T bread crumbs salt & black pepper

1 lemon

Heat the oven to 180 C. Heat the oil and gently fry the finely chopped garlic. When it begins to turn colour remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. If the scallops are large cut in half, if not leave whole and allow 3 per serving. Arrange on a shell, season and spoon on a little garlic mixture, a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of breadcrumbs. Put them in the hot oven until they are golden brown. Remove and serve immediately.

Ricotta fritters (Frittelle di ricotta)

A very delicious, easy sweet dish from Basilicata

500 g ricotta cheese

4 eggs 1 T grated lemon and orange rind

4 T sugar 2 T brandy or fruit liqueur

4 T flour olive oil for deep frying

sugar for dusting

Leave the ricotta to drain for at least an hour. Then stir in the eggs, sugar, and other ingredients. Beat well to make sure you have a smooth, creamy mixture. Heat the oil and drop in a few tablespoons of mixture to form fritters, flattening them with a slotted spoon as they start to rise. Fry in batches, putting to drain on kitchen paper when they are golden brown. Dust with sugar and serve at once.

Linguine with tuna, lemon and rocket (Linguine al tonno,limone e rughetta)

Over the years this has gradually become one of my favourite pasta dishes, and we eat it all through the year. In Rome we can buy small bunches of wild rocket that has a pungent flavour, much stronger than cultivated rocket. Although the “ventresca” is usually considered the “best” cut of tuna, I find it easier to stir in the smaller flakes to get a more even distribution through the pasta. Therfore I use a cheaper cut, but for the flavour it is important to use tuna preserved in olive oil.

400 g linguine

200 g can tuna in olive oil

1 cup fresh rocket leaves, roughly chopped

juice of 2 lemons

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 dry red chilli, crushed

3 T extra virgin olive oil

salt

Heat the oil and gently cook the garlic and chilli pepper. As the garlic begins to change colour add the drained, flaked tuna and stir around the pan. Keep warm. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water, drain when still slightly hard and stir into the tuna mixture. Squeeze over the lemon juice and stir in the rocket. Using a wooden spoon lift up the pasta and really keep turning it over so that the rocket wilts and the tuna is evenly distributed and not left at the bottom of the pan. Serve at once.

Probiotics boost bowel health, says new Netherlands report

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London: A new pilot study from The Netherlands suggests that friendly bacteria, which have known benefits for intestinal health, may boost the number of bowel movements and relieve constipation.

The study investigated the potential of a probiotic mixture to alleviate the symptoms associated with childhood constipation, a condition that can affect up to 30 per cent of children in the Western world according to researchers.

The pilot reported that the frequency of bowel movements doubled following probiotic supplementation, increasing from two per week to 4.2 after two weeks, to 3.8 after four weeks. In addition a decrease in abdominal pain reported by the children showed a drop from 45 per cent at the start of the study to only 20 per cent after four weeks of supplementation.

Researchers from the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam report state that previous studies with single strains showed conflicting results, and that a mixture of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria strains may hold the key. “Given their safety profile, probiotics could be an attractive compound to manipulate gastrointestinal motility in constipated children,” wrote lead author Noor Bekkali.

Available from The Nutri Centre, the UK’s leading resource for nutritional supplements, complementary medicine and advice, Biocare Bio-Acidophilus contains 8 billion viable cells in an exclusive LAB4 complex, consisting of two strains of Lactobacillus Acidophilus and two strains of Bifidobacterium Bifidum. These strains have been specially selected for their robustness and ability to survive in the human digestive environment. The fructooligosaccharide (FOS) base is a highly effective growth medium for these probiotic bacteria.

Bio-Acidophilus costs £17.95 for 60 veg capsules. Adults should take 2 capsules per day. The dosage for children is lower at half a capsule per day from 12 months onwards, and 1 capsule from 2 years onwards. Children between 6 and 12 months can take half a teaspoon (2g) per day of Biocare’s strawberry or banana flavoured Acidophilus Powder (60g for £13.75), which contains the same beneficial strains of bacteria in a base of naturally flavoured FOS. Bifidobacterium Infantis (60g for £24.60) is suitable for children from birth onwards, as it only contains the one strain of bacteria, also in a base of FOS. The powder can mixed withwater, milk, juice or unheated food. Follow these dosage guidelines or as professionally directed.

All the products are available from The Nutri Centre. Call 020 7436 5122 to order or to speak to a qualified nutritionist, or order online at www.nutricentre.com

Nagging health questions answered on new UK government site

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London: Got a nagging question about your health? Are you planning a new fitness regime or are you interested in finding out more about a particular condition and relevant treatment options? If you are looking for reliable, personalised information about your health and lifestyle you can now find it at the new website, NHS Choices www.nhs.uk

Health advice is now the second most searched for subject online so it is no surprise that there is a lot of information of variable quality out there.
NHS Choices is a one-stop shop for all your health information that you can trust and that puts you in charge of decisions about your own health, lifestyle and even treatment options.

See how fit and healthy you are with a quick and easy personal health check and watch short movies from the experts and real people about their experiences of common conditions and treatments. Read honest accounts of how celebrities such as Steve Redgrave, Tricia Goddard, Rosemary Conley and Nik Powell, Richard Branson’s co-founder of Virgin Records have overcome their own health problems. You can even become an expert with access to information only previously available to the medical profession.

Get motivated and take inspiration for a healthy life from Live Well, a series of online magazines featuring up to date articles, short movies and celebrity contributions to appeal to different groups such as women, teenagers, men and families.

Get great ideas for healthy eating with recipes from Emma Bunton, Nadine Coyle, Dannii Minogue and Myleene Klass and watch celebrity chefs cook up simple, healthy meals for the whole family and romantic nights in.

Find inspiration for a fitness regime that works for your age and lifestyle. Get active and take the Chelsea FC challenge, try walking your way to fitness and a great pair of legs or read how Olympic sprinter, Linford Christie has managed to stay fit and lean post retirement and post forty.

Learn our how to stay happy and healthy at work and see what the experts have to say about a mid life crisis. Is your urge for a newer model – car or woman – due to brain or hormone changes or just bad behaviour.

Should you need to go to hospital NHS Choices gives you the information to make an informed decision about where and when you want to be treated. View ratings on hospital waiting times, cleanliness and readmission figures and for the first time what previous patients have to say about their treatment and experiences via immediate online feedback.

It is even possible for you to make your choice of hospital based upon personal preferences such as travelling times, MRSA incidences and availability of single sex wards.

Background:
1. The NHS Choices website draws on the combined experience and expertise of NHS.uk, NHS Direct, the National Electronic Library for Health, and the Healthcare Commission.

2. NHS Choices can be found at www.nhs.uk The site will continue to evolve and significant extensions are scheduled for later in 2007 and 2008.

3. The site will allow patients to access NHS approved information using a number of features under distinct headings:

Live Well
• Information that will help the well to stay fit and assist those who are unwell to manage their condition

• ‘Magazine’ content will reflect the interests and needs of different groups such as teenagers, families and those over 70

Health A-Z
• Access to a vast library of approved medical literature, previously only available to clinicians to enable a deeper understanding of conditions & treatment options
• Easy to understand multi-media guides on the most common procedures e.g. hip replacement
• Detailed guides to living with 20 long-term conditions such as diabetes to help patients manage their condition. Expert opinions from professionals and patients will provide advice and support

Choose Services
• Authoritative, comparative data on the standards and availability of services
• Searchable comprehensive directories e.g. on hospitals, GPs and care homes
• A quality scorecard that will help patients and GPs together to identify the most appropriate clinicians and locations for their treatment

Your Thoughts
• Patients will be able to directly comment and feedback on their hospital experience
• All comments will be pre-moderated and references to named individuals will be removed
• Hospitals will have the opportunity to respond to comments about their services.

Diet drinks linked to metabolic disorders

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New York: Diet drinks (sodas) may be linked to a number of diseases including metabolic syndrome- high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, a big waist, high triglycerides (a blood fat) and low HDL (good) cholesterol.

Metabolic syndrome is believed to be a risk factor for heart disease, according to the report published in the Journal of Circulation

Researchers collected food questionnaires from about 6,000 middle-aged people over several years. Those who drank less than one soda per day were about half as likely to develop metabolic syndrome as those who drank more than one.

Previous studies have suggested (but not proven) that drinking soda may be a marker for a number of factors this study didn’t fully account for:

* an unhealthy lifestyle generally (some of which was controlled for in this study)
* an increased taste for sweet foods triggered by sweet-tasting beverages, regardless of the source of the sweetness (this is only a hypthesis)
* lower economic status (Soda is cheaper than many healthier beverages, meaning people with less money–whom other studies have suggested are at higher risk for heart disease–are more likely to drink them.)

Other researchers have suggested that drinking diet soda is a marker for a desire to lose weight, which could explain why those who drink diet soda appear to be at elevated risk of metabolic syndrome.

Brain exposure to insulin may damage longevity, say US scientists

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Los Angeles: Keeping a healthy weight may help people live longer by limiting brain exposure to insulin, say US scientists.

A study in mice found that reducing insulin signals inside brain cells increased lifespan.

In a report in the magazine Science, the researchers said a healthy lifestyle and weight reduce insulin levels in humans and may have the same effect.

Experts said, if proven, insulin would be just one of many factors, such as genes, that influence longevity.

Previous research in fruit flies and roundworms has suggested that reducing the activity of the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels, can increase lifespan.

The latest study looked at the effects of a protein, IRS2, which carries the insulin signal in the brain. Mice who had half the amount of the protein lived 18% longer than normal mice.

Despite being overweight and having high levels of insulin, the mice were more active as they aged, and their glucose metabolism resembled that of younger mice.

The researchers said the engineered mice were living longer because the diseases that kill them, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, were being postponed due to reduced insulin signalling in the brain, even though circulating levels of insulin were high.

They said, in the future, it may be possible to design drugs to reduce IRS2 activity to reproduce the same effect, although they would have to be specific to the brain.

Study leader Dr Morris White, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, said the simplest way to encourage longevity was to limit insulin levels by exercising and eating a healthy diet.

He said: “Our findings put a mechanism behind what your mother told when you were growing up – eat a good diet and exercise, and it will keep you healthy.

“Diet, exercise and lower weight keep your peripheral tissues sensitive to insulin.

“That reduces the amount and duration of insulin secretion needed to keep your glucose under control when you eat.

“Therefore, the brain is exposed to less insulin.”

This is an interesting study as the work done on mice could suggest that insulin is playing a role in the ageing process

His team is now planning to look at possible links between IRS2 signalling and dementia, which research has shown is associated with obesity and high insulin levels.

Italians create ‘pasta’ diet pill

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Naples: Italian scientists has created a new diet pill that fills you up as if you have eaten a whole bowl of pasta.

The new 500mg pill which is drunk with two glasses of water is made of cellulose powder that expands 1,000 times its original size – it effectively becomes the size of a tennis ball in the stomach.

Professor Luigi Ambrosio, of the National Research Council in Naples, the lead researcher in the project says,”The sensation is like eating a nice plate of spaghetti.”

The pill has been tested on 20 people for a month last year, and is now being tested on a further 90 people at the Policlinico Gemelli hospital in Rome until October this year.

A new company known as Academic Life Science has been created to market the pill which . He hopes to be selling the pill by next May.

Professor Ambrosio, said the cellulose from which the pill is made comes from a natural substance found inside plants and has a beneficial action on the gut.

Briton’s try to loose 13 million stone for holidays

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London: Britons aim to lose a massive 13 million stone in weight by mid-August, according to a new poll by breakfast cereal giant Kellogg’s.

Over a quarter of Brits are currently dieting to be body-beautiful this summer, with the average desired weight-loss almost a stone.

Men are becoming as body conscious as women with 87 per cent taking measures to lose weight for the beach with 70 per cent aiming to lose over half a stone.

The poll also revealed some bad dieting habits, with many Britons likely to fall short of their target weight. The number one diet trap was skipping breakfast to reduce calorie intake (50 per cent of respondents). Other statistics reveal:

· 40 per cent lied to themselves about their calorie intake,

· 32 per cent of Brits were starving themselves in a bid to slim down this summer,

· 31 per cent admitted that booze was often what caused them to ditch the diet;

· 16 per cent switched from one fad diet to another and

· 15 per cent ‘binged and purged’.

Leading diet and fitness expert Joanna Hall comments: “In many cases dieters believe that skipping breakfast or even starving themselves completely can be a fast-track to weight-loss success. In fact, studies show that those who make time to eat breakfast actually tend to be slimmer than those who skip. If you don’t have this meal in the morning you’re more likely to overindulge later in the day on high fat, high sugar foods. Many forms of dieting are a false economy and will simply leave you devoid of energy and your diet doomed to failure – it’s best to focus on a balanced diet and regular exercise. “

The majority of people dieting for summer are doing it for themselves but over a fifth of male dieters are losing weight for their partners, whereas only a sixth of females are doing it for the man in their life. A fifth of young people (16 – 24 years old) believe that losing weight will help them attract a new partner.

Regional Differences

· The most body conscious city is Glasgow, with 85% of people hoping to lose at least half a stone or more by August.

· Geordies are the worst for skipping breakfast to save on calories (65 per cent) and Glaswegians are more likely to nibble on food at work (43 per cent).

· Half of those dieters surveyed from Belfast have failed their diets in the past by losing willpower whilst ‘under the influence’.

Rimi Obra-Ratwatte, Kellogg’s nutritionist says; “It is worrying to see some of the diet trap trends that emerge from this survey, especially when we so many people are making a concerted effort to skip breakfast, follow fad diets or even ‘binge and purge’. Successful weight management hinges on the ability to stick to a balanced diet that ensures nutrients are taken from a wide variety of food groups in addition to par-taking in regular activity.”

Background info:
· The poll conducted by www.Tickbox.net on behalf of Kellogg’s, surveyed 1349 men and women across the UK in June 2007.

· Additional survey findings include:

o 40% of people in the UK have dieted in the last 12 months
o 40% of dieters regularly lie to themselves about their calorie intake

· A copy of the De la Hunty & Ashwell M. 2007 Report: “Are people who eat breakfast cereals slimmer than those who don’t” can be obtained from the Kellogg’s Press Office

First diet pill approved by the FDA goes on sale in US

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Los Angeles: The first over-the-counter diet drug approved by the US Food & Drug Administration has gone on sale. In some cities there were stampedes as the drug called Alli sold out.

Alli is a lower dose version of the prescription-only drug called Xenical that blocks absorption of fat. It works by disabling some of the natural enzymes in the digestive system that break down fat for absorption. When those enzymes can’t do their job, excess fat passes through the body.

Those who use alli “may recognize it in the toilet as something that looks like the oil on top of pizza,” according to the product Web site – www.myalli.com Nutrients absorbed from carbohydrates and proteins are not affected

The drug blocks about one-quarter of fat consumed. When used along with a healthy diet plan and regular exercise, about half of people taking Alli in clinical studies lost 5 percent of their body weight in six months.

But the drug has some unpleasant side effects. Digestive side effects include gas with oily spotting, loose stool, and hard-to-control bowel movements, reports its manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline.These side effects are more likely when a person consumes more than 30 percent of fat in a meal.

The drug is relatively expensive at $40 to $50 for 20- and 30-day starter kits may have put customers off.

Breast cancer victims live longer with good diet and exercise

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San Diego: Eating healthy food and taking regular exerice, cuts the risk of dying by half in breast cancer victims, say scientists at the University of California.

Walking for thirty minutes and eating five portions of vegetables and fruit daily offers protection even in obese women.

The studyis the first to look at the combined effects of diet and exercise directly on the survival rates of cancer victims and studied 1,490 women with an average age of 50.

All the women, who had undergone primary therapy for early-stage breast cancer took part in the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living study.

It was concluded that women who were both physically active and had a healthy diet were much more likely to survive for between five and 11 years longer than the others. Only around 7 per cent of the ‘ healthyliving’ women died within 11 years – about half that seen for the others taking part in the study.

The findings are published in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Sex and diet pill on way, say researchers

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Edinburgh: Earlier research by Scottish scientists indicates that it may be possible to create a combo pill that increases a woman’s sex drive at the same time as supressing appetite.

So far the pill has only been tested on animals – shrews and monkeys, but the results so far indicate that the pill could go on sale within ten years.

Professor Robert Millar, director of the Human Reproductive Sciences Unit at the Medical Research Council in Edinburgh, said they discovered the double benefit while developing a hormone to treat loss of libido, a problem which affects millions of women.

He noted that the animals in the test demonstrated an increased desire for sex at the same time they were less interested in food.

Female musk shrews and marmosets were injected with the Type 2 Gonadotropin-releasing hormone, which provoked an mating response towards their males.

In the shrews, this was shown by ‘rump presentation and tail wagging’, while the monkeys began ‘tongue flicking and eyebrow raising’ said the scientist. The animals cut their food intake by up to a third.

Type 2 Gonadotropin-releasing hormone is distributed to parts of the brain that scientists believe may affect reproductive behaviour.

Professor Millar believes that the results indicate the hormone could be useful in treating both low libido and obesity at the same time. He is now working on reproducing it in the form of a pill, which could prove extremely profitable given the amount of interest pharmaceutical companies have shown in enhancing libido.

Diet and Nutrition – Martha Roberts

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Martha Roberts DIP ION is a qualified nutrional therapist and an award-winning health journalist.

To find out more visit www.martharoberts.co.uk or to ask about your diet and nutrition concerns email her at Martha Roberts

The Top 100 Foods for a Younger You! – ELIXIR reader discount

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There are many women out there who want to keep their youth and vitality but shy away from the doctor’s needle and scalpel.

Naturopath Sarah Merson has written a fantastic handbag-sized book that is about to be published. It is called THE TOP 100 FOODS FOR A YOUNGER YOU and costs £4.99 and is available at online at www.dbp.co.uk

This book will help you discover that the right foods can slow down many of the ageing processes and keep you looking good and feeling great whatever your age.
Foods can be powerful weapons in the battle against many of the visible effects of ageing, such as wrinkles, and also those you can’t see, such as damage to the heart and eyes, osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Choosing the right foods will help to protect against such conditions as well as strengthening your immune system, increasing your resistance to colds and other infections, and also boosting your energy levels and improving physical and mental performance.

Ageing is inevitable but ageing well is an art. If you want to stay fitter, live longer, feel better and look younger in later life, now is the time to invest in your future good health. With recipes for each, Sarah Merson reveals 100 tried- and-tested foods which will keep you looking and feeling fabulous.

Sarah Merson is a freelance writer who specializes in alternative health and nutrition and is the author of The Top 100 Traditional Remedies (DBP 2006). She also works for the Natural College of Naturopathic Medicine in the U

ELIXIR reader offers

‘To receive your copy of�The Top 100 Foods For a Younger You by Sarah Merson at the special price of �3.99 (including postage and packing) please call Duncan Baird Publishers on 01962 841417 or email books@dbp.co.uk quoting ELIXIR special offer. Normal price of �4.99.�All major credit and debit cards accepted. This offer applies to UK residents only.� �

‘To receive your copy of The Top 100 Diet Secrets by Anna Selby at the special price of �3.99 (including postage and packing) please call Duncan Baird Publishers on 01962 841417 or email books@dbp.co.ukquoting ELIXIR special offer. Normal price of �4.99.�All major credit and debit cards accepted. This offer applies to UK residents only.� �

British women say no to extreme diets, says Laughing Cow survey

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London: According to a study conducted by The Laughing Cow®*, despite the past year being hailed as the year of the size 00 celebrity figure, over a third (34%) of sensible British women polled now cite Charlotte Church, rather than skinny Victoria Beckham, as having the perfect figure, with size 12 being the aspirational size of the majority of women.

However 40% of men considered the sporting physique of Victoria’s husband, David Beckham, as being their ideal goal, according to The Laughing Cow® Extra Light Diet Survey, an in-depth analysis of the British attitude, aspirations and approach to dieting.

The Report’s results show that the average diet lasts just five and half weeks. With 48% of people starting their summer holiday diets in March, in preparation for showing off their figures in June, July or August, mid April is the danger period for a weakening of resolve – perhaps due to the temptation of all those Easter eggs, as 50% give lack of will power as the main reason for failing to stick with a diet! The results are available for all to view on www.laughingcowdietreport.co.uk, which also offers tips, advice and recipes to help would be slimmers stay on track to achieve realistic weight loss goals via a healthily balanced diet.

We’re a Nation of Bridget Jones’s – Always on a Diet
The revealing results also show that 1 in 10 (or 6,658,630) Brits are currently on a weight loss diet – amazingly, if gathered together, this number equates the total population of Scotland and Northern Ireland combined. What’s more, like popular fictional character Bridget Jones, 21% of dieters consider themselves as always on a diet, with the average dieter spending around £150 per diet on special diet foods.

Sisters Are Dieting for Themselves
On motivation, three quarters (75%) of all dieters claim that they want to slim for themselves, with less than a fifth (18%) wishing to lose weight to please their partners. 70% of dieters also cited health as a reason for wanting to slim, although half of all women dieters are driven to diet in a quest to look good in fashionable clothes (58%) or simply boost their confidence (59%).

Dieting to Extremes?
Many are now taking a sensible approach to dieting, with 85% considering eating smaller portions to shift weight, 64% considering consuming only low fat foods and 44% pondering joining the gym. However some contemplate going to extreme lengths to shed excess weight, with 22% thinking about taking weight loss pills, 12% considering a liquid diet and nearly 1 in 10 (9%) pondering surgery.

Cheese and Chocolate Cravings
Craving comfort food, a fifth (20%) of those polled cited cheese as the food they most craved when dieting, beaten only by the ubiquitous chocolate (23%). Nearly half (48%) of dieters wished that cheese was less fattening, although over half (52%) considered cheese as a healthy food.

The survey was commissioned by the dieter’s friend, The Laughing Cow® Extra Light, the first truly low-fat cheese portions, packed with all the Laughing Cow cheese taste and goodness but with only 3% fat and just 20 k-calories per individual triangle.

To support wavering and would-be slimmers, The Laughing Cow® Extra Light has launched an exciting microsite – www.laughingcowextralight.co.uk and have teamed up with respected nutritionists and registered dieticians, Sian Porter and Azmina Govindji, to bring you a site packed with dieting tips, tasty recipes, tips from real life dieters, plus the opportunity to download a free podcast offering an inspirational practical guide to successful dieting.

Jo Wozniak, Group Brand Manager, The Laughing Cow® commented: “The Laughing Cow® Extra Light Diet Survey reveals many insights into the different attitudes, approaches and aspirations of slimmers and identified five distinct dieting types that each take a different approach to weight loss. As April is the month when the majority look likely to fall off the pre summer holiday diet bandwagon, we believe that the motivational tips, information and advice offered on our microsite will go some way towards helping slimmers lighten up and stay on track. Understanding different slimmers’ needs, motivations and difficulties is important as it enables us at The Laughing Cow® to devise ways to help slimmers achieve their dieting goals with a healthily balanced approach.”

New diet drug works on metabolism

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London: A new fatbusting drug that makes the body loose 12 percent of weight in a year – faster than any other drug on the market – could soon be available to UK patients.

The one-a-day tablet called Excalia which has been developed by US scientists works by tricking the metabolism into running faster.

The number of NHS prescriptions for obesity drugs has jumped almost 600 per cent since 1999. Already available in the UK are Xenical, which blocks absorption of fat, Reductil, which makes the stomach feel full, and Acomplia, which reduces cravings and stops the body storing abdominal fat.

Britain’s National Health Service spends around £1bn a year on obesity-related illness such as diabetes and the UK the worst problem with overweight adults.

The American scientists say the pill also helps weight to come off for longer. It works on the hypothalamus in the brain to boost the body’s metabolism and uses two drugs which are already widely used, against epilepsy and smoking. It also boost levels of a hormone that stops us getting hungry.

Dieters cut calories rather than exercise

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London: Dieters prefer to count calories rather than take the healthier exercise option, says a new poll from pharma giant, GlaxoSmithKline Nutritional Healthcare.

Twice as many dieters count calories to lose weight rather than exercise, a poll has found. And this diet loss method if more poplar with women than men.Calorie counting is most popular with women – half opt to count their food intake, compared with a third of men.

Surprisingly 59% of the 2,000 people surveyed by GlaxoSmithKline Nutritional Healthcare realised exercise makes the greater contribution to personal health.

More choice in low-calorie foods means people are giving up exercise in favour of consuming less, nutritionists say.

John Brewer, GSK Sports Scientist, said: “The trend of people swapping the gym for a low calorie meal is very worrying.

“Consuming fewer calories is no substitute for exercise. We cannot afford to become a nation of calorie-counting couch potatoes – the benefits of leading active lives are enormous.”

Graham Neale of GSK Nutritional Healthcare said diet food manufacturers had a responsibility to consumers.

He said: “With food and drink manufacturers broadening their ‘diet’ ranges, we need a concerted effort to encourage consumers to focus as much on ‘energy out’ as ‘energy in’.”

The beer drinkers diet

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Columbia: The Beer Drinker’s Diet book, published by Amazon.com’s Booksurge, is gaining followers devoted to the author’s methods of losing weight while responsibly enjoying alcoholic beverages.

At first glance, the title “The Beer Drinker’s Diet” may appear to be a comedy book, but glancing through a few pages of Bradley Scott Cailor’s new book, you quickly realize that this is a very serious book for the thousands of people who want to lose weight, while enjoying life.

In an interview with Mr. Cailor, we asked why one should read the book and what makes it so different than others he replied:

“Most weight-loss books said that I could not drink beer while on a ‘diet.’ With this disparaging premise in mind, I have steadfastly tried to get around this issue by trying literally every ‘diet’ and ‘diet pill’ imaginable over the course of 25 years. Frustrated by gimmicky diets, dangerous pills, and senseless diet books, I was so tired of failure that I had to take matters into my own hands in a monumental quest to find what diet plan truly works.”

“In a common-sense manner, this book summarizes every proven principle from literally every diet plan and book into one complete and thoroughly tested guide that has been proven to work by real people. It is passionately written by an “actual writer” from the unique perspective of ‘one regular person to another,’ as I have been there, too!”

Cailor’s book is an interesting and motivating read. His techniques transformed his body, losing over 110 pounds of fat and flab.

New York Times best-selling author Ellen Tanner Marsh commented: “For anyone seeking a health program that really works, The Beer Drinker’s Diet is a motivating and significant book.”

The Columbus Dispatch stated: “The author also shows you step-by-step & pound-by-pound how he lost 114 pounds of fat while enjoying life…he even analyzes-in great detail-why each of his previous 25 years of diet attempts failed! We learn from his real-life trial & error why “miracle pills” and “fad diets” do NOT work …the author has tested all of these gimmicks, diets and pills for us. No Other Diet Book Does This! Beer is his symbol for any favorite food or drink that must be embraced to diet successfully.”

Mr. Cailor’s website www.TheBeerDrinkersDiet.com contains testimonials and reviews of his book, which is surely to gain a huge following as it’s notice and popularity rises.
The Beer Drinker’s Diet is on sale through Amazon.com and offers a 100% guarantee, something seldom seen with book publishers.

Bradley ended the interview with, “Enjoy beer, enjoy life, it all works on this diet, as you really won’t be using this dirty little four-letter word ever again.”

About the author:
Bradley Scott Cailor is a resident of Dublin, Ohio, has a degree in health education and has served many years as a personal trainer.

Exercise more beneficial to older adults than cutting calories

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New York: Older adults who want to loose weight get more benefit from exercise that a calorie restricted diet alone, according to new research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

A study of 34 adults in their 50s and 60s, found that both dieters and exercisers lost weight. But those who also exercised kept their muscle mass, strength and fitness levels.

The exercise taken by older adults fights the natural muscle decline that comes with ageing.

The researchers concluded that it was more beneficial to exercise than diet, provided extra calories are not consumed.

The study findings are based on a one-year follow-up of healthy older adults who were required to take either exercise or cut calories to lose weight.

The dieters had weekly meetings with a dietitian to discuss ways to alter their eating habits, while the exercise group met with a trainer each week.

The average weight loss in each group was nearly identical — about 17 pounds over one year. But while dieters lost muscle mass, strength and endurance, exercisers preserved theirs.

Mediterrean diet protects against diseases of ageing, says new research

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New York: The consumption of a “Mediterranean” style diet rich in fruits, vegetables, olive oil, pulses, cereals and fish decreases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to new US research.

Dr Nikolaos Scarmeas, assistant professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York says that the diet helps prevent the disease by protecting the brain from degeneration caused by inflammation.

Another study, pulbished in the Archives of Neurology, also concludes that that taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements slows cognitive decline in some patients with very mild Alzheimer’s disease. But do not appear to help those with advanced Alzheimer’s.

The Scarmeas’s team collected data on almost 2,000 people averaging 76 years of age, 194 had developed Alzheimer’s. The researchers analyzed their diet during the previous year and scored the diet based on how closely it followed the Mediterranean diet, which included moderate alcohol intake and some red meat.

Scores ranged from zero to 9. Higher scores were given for closely following a Mediterranean diet.

People who closely followed that regimen had a significantly lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers found. For each additional point on the diet score, risk for Alzheimer’s was reduced by 19 to 24 percent.

In fact, people in the top one-third of diet scores had 68 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, compared with people in the bottom third. In addition, people in the middle third had a 53 percent lower risk of developing the disease.

Professor Scarmeas said it appeared that the diet provided protection for a number of conditions including coronary heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, obesity and a series of cancers. He said it therefore appeared to make sense to follow this diet anyway, and the diet may also protect from Alzheimer’s disease.

In the second report, a team led by Dr. Yvonne Freund-Levi from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, looked at the effects of omega-3 fatty acids supplements on 204 patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

After six months, among the 174 people who completed the trial, the researchers found no difference in cognitive decline among people taking omega-3 fatty acids supplements at different doses or placebo.

However, for a subgroup of 32 patients with very mild cognitive impairment at the beginning of the study, those taking the supplements experienced less cognitive decline compared with those who took placebo, the researchers found.

And when patients who took placebo during the first six months were given omega-3 fatty acids supplements, their cognitive decline decreased during the second six months of the trial.

“The mechanisms by which omega-3 fatty acids could interfere in Alzheimer’s disease pathophysiologic features are not clear, but since anti-inflammatory effects are an important part of the profile of fish oils, they are conceivable also for Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers write. “It is possible that when the disease is clinically apparent, the neuropathologic involvement is too advanced to be substantially attenuated by anti-inflammatory treatment.”

One expert said that, given the other health benefits of fish oil, it certainly can’t hurt patients to take supplements.

“I am happy to tell people that if they want to reduce their risk for Alzheimer’s, they should reduce their cardiovascular disease risk factors and take fish oil,” said Greg M. Cole, a neuroscientist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, and the associate director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

A second expert agreed that diet probably does influence the disease.

“The papers share a focus on the idea that diet plays a role in Alzheimer’s, a consensus that has been building for the past five or six years,” said Dr. Sam Gandy, the chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council at the Alzheimer’s Association and director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University.

“The common thread is that both papers point toward intervention at the earliest moment having a greater effect and the suggestion that prevention may have the greatest effect of all,” Gandy said.

“Once the gooey amyloid material has accumulated and poisoned nerve cells and the cells have died, it is very hard to think seriously about repairing damage that severe,” he added.

Scientists discover Atkins secret

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London: Scientists investigating how the Atkins Diet works have discovered that protein supresses hunger hormones.

In the experiment, the mice were put on a high protein diet with the result that they produced more of an appetite regulating protein known as YY or PYY. This protein is also found in humans.

The study which is published in the magazine Cell Metabolism advices that eating protein is a good way losing weight and also for keeping it in check.

Lead researcher, Rachel Batterham from the University College of London, said that the research demonstrated the theory that eating more protein may reduce appetite and lead to sustained weight loss.

The findings also reveal how the Atkins diet might actually work, keeping carbohydrates low and protein high in the diet.

Batterman explains that in the early stages, a condition called ketosis sets in causing the liver to go on starvation mode in the absence of glycogen: “The problem is that it makes you feel terrible.”

Diet sodas – indirect cancer link

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Rochester: Although diet sodas cannot be discounted in esophageal cancer, according to doctors at the US Mayo Clinic.

There are interconnections between soda, obesity, gastroesophagel reflux disease and esophageal cancer that may indicate it’s best to go easy on soda, say Dr Claude Deschamps, Thoracic Surgery and Jennifer Nelson dietitician.

The incidence of esophageal cancer continues to increase, and so far, researchers can’t pinpoint a single reason for the increase. But there are two important risk factors associated with soda consumption.

First, frequent or constant heartburn is the most common symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease. While heartburn seems like just a nuisance, about 5 percent of people with GERD will develop Barrett’s esophagus, a condition that occurs when acid reflux stimulates changes in the lining of the lower esophagus. Patients with Barrett’s esophagus have a 30- to 125-fold increased risk of developing esophageal cancer. And GERD is also associated with obesity.

Second, soda consumption – even of diet soda – can contribute to weight gain.

A 12-ounce regular soda contains about 10 teaspoons of sugar, which boosts calories. And according to a study presented at last year’s annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association, people who drink two or more cans of diet soda a day have a 57.1 percent risk of becoming overweight or obese compared to 47.2 percent for those who drank more than two cans of regular soda a day. The study, done by researchers at Texas Health Science Center, tracked 622 people for about seven years.

It’s not clear why diet soda consumption was associated with a higher risk of weight gain. The researchers speculated that diet soda drinkers fared worse because they opted for diet soda in an effort to lose weight. But drinking diet soda – without other changes – isn’t enough to shed pounds. Another theory is that perhaps the artificial sweeteners in diet soda somehow stimulate appetite.

Maintaining a healthy body weight clearly reduces your risk of many chronic illnesses, including some cancers. While the interplay between soda, obesity and GERD has not been directly linked to esophageal cancer, there are enough connections to be cautious and watch what you drink.

Hormone link to child obesity

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San Francisco: Children in developed countries are becoming fatter because their diets play havoc with their hormones, according to a new study by scientists.

Robert Lustig, a paediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of the University of California in San Francisco, said: “Our current western food environment has become highly insulinogenic, as demonstrated by its increased energy density, high-fat content, high glycaemic index, increased fructose composition, decreased fibre, and decreased dairy content.”

Overweight children are more likely to become overweight adults, putting people at greater risk of heart disease and stroke.

In the latest issue of Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology and Metabolism, Dr Lustig says the obesity epidemic rests on effects of processed food, which has sugar added to a wide variety of products that used never to include it and has fibre removed. This upsets the balance of two hormones which regulate how much we eat – leptin and insulin.

Diet is not effective in stress control

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London: New research shows that some dietary interventions may not prove effective in helping tackle stress and poor health.

Research published online in the Journal of Proteome Research, shows how improving the diet of rats placed in stressful environments did not normalise their metabolic profile, an indicator of their health.

The team from Imperial College London and the Nestle Research Centre divided 36 rats into groups of six. Groups A to D were fed a standard diet, while groups E and F were fed a diet enriched with long chain polyunsaturated acids (LC-PUFA) which are normally found in milk and dairy products.

The rats were subjected to different types of stress, one where they were separated from their mothers periodically during the first few weeks of life and a second stress at a later stage where they were placed on a platform suspended above water. Following the tests, samples of blood plasma were taken from the rats and analysed using NMR spectroscopy.

Group A was used as a control group and not subjected to any stress, while groups B, C, and D were subjected to either one or both stresses.
Groups E and F were subjected to water avoidance or both maternal separation and water avoidance, as well as being fed the enriched diet.

They found the stress caused by maternal separation led to a decrease in lipoproteins and an increase in amino acids, glucose, lactate, creatine and citrate. The stress caused by the water avoidance resulted in increased levels of O-acetyl glycoproteins.

Giving the rats the LC-PUFA enriched diet did help to improve their metabolic profiles, an indicator of health, although the diet failed to totally normalise them.

Dr Elaine Holmes, from Imperial College London, who led the research
said: “Although the study shows this particular dietary intervention did not work to significantly improve health, the importance of a good diet in remaining healthy should not be underestimated.”

“However this work could have important implications for the development of other dietary interventions. The research shows it is possible to accurately measure and quantify how changing diet impacts health. This could ultimately lead to the development of more targeted and more effective products.”

Scientists discover hormone that reduces appetite and promotes activity

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London: New research shows how topping up the levels of a hormone found in the gut could help reduce the appetite and increase activity in overweight and obese people.

The study published online in the International Journal of Obesity shows how the team from Imperial College London gave injections of oxyntomodulin to fifteen overweight but healthy volunteers from Hammersmith Hospital, and monitored how this affected their food intake, and levels of activity.

Professor Steve Bloom, from Imperial College London, who led the research, said: “The discovery that this hormone has a double effect, increasing energy expenditure as well as reducing food intake, could be of huge importance. When most people diet, this produces a reduction in activity, which is probably an adaptive trait to conserve energy during times of famine. However this does make it especially difficult for obese individuals trying to loose weight. In contrast oxyntomodulin decreases calorific intake, but actually increases energy expenditure, making it an ideal intervention for the obese.”

The researchers used fifteen healthy overweight male and female volunteers, aged between 23 and 49 years. The volunteers completed three separate four-day study sessions, where they self administered either saline or oxyntomodulin according to a double blind randomised trial.

After the first injection, the volunteers were given a meal, and their calorific intake was monitored. They spent the next two days in their normal environment, self administering oxyntomodulin three times a day before meals. On the fourth day, the volunteers came back to the hospital to have their energy expenditure measured.

They found that after the first meal, the volunteers ate on average 128 kcal or 17.4 percent less, while activity related energy expenditure increased by an average of 143 kcal or 26.2 percent.

The researchers also found a reduction in body weight by an average of
0.5 percent.

Professor Bloom added: “This discovery could provide doctors with a whole new way to treat the current obesity epidemic. We need to get away from the focus on food and start to think about how to increase exercise. The question is how to make people enjoy taking exercise and how to encourage them to do it spontaneously.

“Oxyntomodulin could work by letting the brain know it has an adequate energy supply and that it can afford to do productive things rather than concentrate solely on food seeking or conserving energy. It signals to the brain that it can increase exercise by letting it know that the energy is available to do more things.

“If used as a therapy for obesity, oxyntomodulin provides a double whammy – reducing food intake and increasing spontaneous activity.”