LiveLongAgeWell

This article is dedicated to the many people who seem to get enough aerobic exercise, and eat a reasonable diet, but still have problems with excess fat. It will give you something else that might help your situation; something basic and super simple…

Have you observed that as far as general activity level is concerned, people tend to fall into one of two big categories: the people who tend to be “couch potatoes”, and those who are constantly moving? The first group just doesn’t seem to want to move much. They would rather wait for the elevator than take the stairs, even for one floor, and if they are sitting watching TV or at the computer, rather than jumping up and getting something they need from another room, they will call for help or at least just sit and wait until they have more motivation to actually get up and move.

Now the other group, we might call the “movers” or maybe “people who putter”, seem to be constantly moving, almost in a nervous way. But take a look at the body shapes of these two groups, and you might notice a pattern—the movers tend to be a lot trimmer than the people who don’t like to move. It makes a lot of sense, and now we have good scientific evidence that the movers are both thinner and healthier than the sedate group, but the reasons for this are a lot more complex than what you might think.

Studies comparing people in occupations requiring lots of sitting (such as bus drivers) with those who stand much of the day (for example train conductors), have shown a much higher rate of cardiovascular disease and fatal heart attack in those who sit most of the day.  Experimental studies have recently demonstrated that sitting a lot, even a few hours straight, lowers the activity of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase, which normally works to decrease the fat content in your blood. So even a few hours of sitting seems to alter your very fat metabolism.

A study of otherwise healthy men who became incapacitated and confined to bed rest showed that three weeks of bed rest had a bigger negative impact on their physical work capacity than 30 years of aging. Scientists (“inactivity physiologists”) are now more closely studying the physical changes during our “inactive” periods, but while we await more research, it seems clear that people who sit too much during the day face a host of problems, and to cut your risk of obesity, diabetes, and of heart attack, you need to, basically, “get off your butt” and move around more. For some people, even a good program of  regular aerobic exercise, combined with a reasonable diet, may not be enough to keep your weight under control if you sit much of the day.

•    Avoid sitting too long. You are at higher risk of serious metabolic problems if you spend hours watching TV or sitting in front of the computer at work or during your free time. As much as you can, just get up and walk or move around, if only for a minute or two at a time, that’s fine. If you can’t get up, at least shift in your chair regularly, and maybe shake/stretch your arms and legs occasionally. Try to change your mindset so that when you need something from another room, you see that as a good thing, not an irritation.

•    If you like video games, consider as an alternative to the standard (sitting) game something more active like the Nintendo Wii, which will get you up and moving, and allows you to play too. It’s great for both your body and your mind.

•    People who sit for long periods, for example on an airplane, suffer a higher risk of DVT or “deep vein thrombosis” a potentially life-threatening condition in which the blood stagnates in the deep veins in your legs to the point that a clot forms which breaks off and travels through to your lungs. Basic prevention involves getting up and moving around the plane occasionally, and flexing your calf muscles while seated to get the blood moving in your legs. Drinking water also helps to keep your blood from getting too thick and prone to clotting.

I was surprised and slightly amused to see acai (properly spelled, with accents açaí, and pronounced ah-saa-EE), the blue Amazonian berry, so heavily promoted as a weight loss aid—and a frequent subject of spam emails—because here in Brazil, where it comes from, acai is more likely seen as something that will make you fat, not thin. Still, acai as a supplement has become a huge industry in the United States, with a marketing frenzy spurred by high-powered endorsers like Dr. Oz and Oprah. What’s the truth….will it help make you thin, or fat, or neither?

I initially heard of this “healthiest fruit in the world” —a reputation it carries in Brazil—on my first trip here in 2001, and since it was exotically blue, tasty, and apparently full of antioxidants, I have eaten it frequently. Acai is a grape-sized fruit from an Amazonian palm tree (another part of the same tree is sold as “palm hearts”), usually sold in frozen packs of blue pulp. Typically it is prepared as a thick smoothie, mixed with banana and the sweet caffeine-rich syrup of another Amazonian berry, guaraná. It’s fashionable to cover the whole bowl with granola.

Acai indeed has the reputation as being mysteriously healthy, full of antioxidants, and the science indicates that it is, but exactly how heavily it’s loaded with antioxidants is controversial. Some studies indicate a medium level, some higher; it depends on which “system” of oxidation in the body or test tube is being tested. It seems likely though that the basic antioxidant content is quite high, somewhere around that of a blueberry.

Interestingly, the value of antioxidants in the body is a hot topic now…are they helpful or could they be in some cases harmful? A recent study regarding vitamins C and E and exercise suggest that antioxidants, at least as pill supplements, might actually weaken our own body’s natural system of mopping up oxidative damage, and antioxidant pills might weaken these defenses. So a new theory is that these supplements might make our own natural antioxidant systems lazy, and in the long run, lead to more oxidative damage, more aging.

But it is much too soon to reach any conclusions; almost certainly, other studies with different formulations of vitamin E, different dose schedules, etc, will give different results. Most scientists seem to agree however that the antioxidants you consume in foods like tea, red wine, colorful vegetables, legumes, coffee, chocolate, etc, are beneficial as far as cutting risk of heart disease, some cancers, and possibly dementia.

Back to acai. Besides whatever natural antioxidants it contains, it is full of the best form of (monosaturated) fatty acids, similar to olive oil, and has lots of fiber. But as a weight loss aid? No proof at all, and no good evidence either. Don’t waste your money. Acai in body creams as a wrinkle reducer? Again, no evidence; better to spend your money on a visit to a dermatologist, a prescription for topical retinoic acid, and a good sunscreen. Still, I’ll continue to eat my acai mixed with banana and guarana, but I’ll rely on the gym and lots of walking to keep my weight in line…certainly not acai, green tea, or any supplement.

I am sure that this study will not put an end to the controversies comparing various types of diets, but recent research published in the New England Journal of Medicine—coming from the Harvard School of Public Health—strongly suggests that, to achieve weight loss, it really doesn’t matter what type of diet you adopt…the important point is that you significantly reduce your caloric intake.

Most diet research involves short-term studies and a relatively small number of participants (or have many more participants of one sex like the Israeli study mentioned below), but this Harvard study went on for two years, and involved 811 participants, and each of those was randomly assigned to one of four diets:

* Low-fat, average protein: 20% of calories from fat, 15% of calories from protein, 65% of calories from carbohydrate
* Low-fat, high-protein: 20% fat, 25% protein, 55% carbohydrate
* High-fat, average protein: 40% fat, 15% protein, 45% carbohydrate
* High-fat, high-protein: 40% fat, 25% protein, 35% carbohydrate

All of the diets encouraged lots of fruits and vegetables, the participants were encouraged to do 90 minutes of moderate exercise weekly, and all underwent first individual, then later in the study, group weight-reduction counseling. All participants were encouraged to cut about 750 calories from their previous diet, but all people during the study ate at least 1200 calories per day.

The results: people in all four diet types lost an average of 13 pounds (5.9 kg.) after the first six months, and then after about a year, most people slowly gained back some of their original weight, but at two years, all four diet groups were about nine pounds (4 kg.) less than their original weights.

One important differentiating point was that those people who faithfully continued attending group-counseling sessions over the two years lost an average of 22 pounds (10 kg.) rather than nine pounds!

Now while this seems to be a good study, it isn’t perfect; for example, the study group was 62% female rather than the ideal 50%.  And an Israeli study published last year in the same journal showed that people who followed a low-carbohydrate diet for two years had a larger weight loss than those who followed a low-fat diet, but this study consisted mostly of men (86%), and the study was partially funded by the Atkins Foundation (which advocates a low-carbohydrate diet).

Without doubt, the diet wars will continue, and I will not be surprised if I report within the next two years a different large controlled study with completely different results. Still, I think we can take away a couple lessons: first, that cutting calories is the most critical factor in any diet. Daily calorie counting might well be worthwhile to make sure you keep to your daily goal. You could take this approach: choose whatever diet (Atkins, Ornish, Mediterranean, etc.) you can stick to! (Consult with your physician, and you might have to experiment with several to see which you can really follow.) Second, it’s likely that if you consistently work with group support or counseling while you diet, you will have better results.

Next post: a nutritious recipe idea from Brazil, whether you are dieting or not!