Take a coffee or tea break to protect your liver

Chronic liver diseases rank as the 12th cause of death worldwide and many of these disorders are associated with unhealthy lifestyles. Conversely, a healthier lifestyle can help prevent or reverse liver disease. Liver-related mortality is closely related to the development of cirrhosis, the final consequence of progressive fibrosis, i.e. scarring of the liver resulting from chronic inflammation. According to a new study published in the Journal of Hepatology, researchers found that drinking coffee and herbal tea may protect against liver fibrosis, estimated as the degree of liver stiffness, which is high in extensive scarring of the liver. Because these beverages are popular, widely available, and inexpensive, they could have the potential to become important in the prevention of advanced liver disease.

"Over the past decades, we gradually deviated towards more unhealthy habits, including a sedentary lifestyle, decreased physical activity, and consumption of a 'Happy Diet'," explains lead author Louise J. M. Alferink, MD, of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, "This Happy Diet, also known as the Western diet, is typically rich in unhealthy foods including processed foods lacking nutrients and artificial sugars. This has led not only to an obesity epidemic, but also to a rapid increase in the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is due to extensive accumulation of fat in the liver and resembles alcoholic liver disease in people who do not exceed two drinks a day of alcohol. In this context, examining accessible and inexpensive lifestyle strategies that have potential health benefits, such as coffee and tea consumption, is a viable approach to finding ways to halt the rapid increase of liver disease in developed countries."

Sarwa Darwish Murad, MD, PhD, principal investigator of the study and hepatologist at the Erasmus MC University Medical Center, continues "There is quite some epidemiological, but also experimental data suggesting that coffee has health benefits on liver enzyme elevations, viral hepatitis, NAFLD, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. Beyond the liver, coffee has been demonstrated to be inversely associated with overall mortality in the general population. The exact mechanism is unknown but it is thought that coffee exerts anti-oxidant effects. We were curious to find out whether coffee consumption would have a similar effect on liver stiffness measurements in individuals without chronic liver disease."

Data was gathered on 2,424 participants of the Rotterdam study, a large population-based cohort study including participants 45 years or older living in a suburb of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. All participants underwent an extensive physical work-up, including data collection for anthropometrics, blood sampling, hepatological imaging using abdominal ultrasound and Fibroscan®, which quantitatively measures liver stiffness. In addition, they completed an externally validated 389-item Food Frequency Questionnaire, which included detailed information on coffee and tea consumption.

Coffee and overall tea consumption was divided into three categories: none, moderate (0-3 cups per day), and frequent (more than 3 cups per day). Tea consumption was categorized by herbal, green, or black tea and further into none (0) or any (>0) consumption.

Investigators found that frequent coffee consumption was significantly associated with lower odds of high liver stiffness values (⩾8 kPa as proxy for liver fibrosis), i.e. less scarring of the liver, independent of lifestyle, metabolic, and environmental traits. When they looked at the whole range of liver stiffness values, they found that both frequent coffee and any herbal tea consumption, even in small amounts, were significantly associated with lower liver stiffness values. Finally, while no direct association was found between either coffee or tea and the presence of fat accumulation in the liver (NAFLD) per se, the effect of coffee on lowering the liver stiffness was significant in both the group with and without liver fat. The authors therefore concluded that frequent coffee and herbal tea seem to have beneficial effects on preventing liver scarring even before overt liver disease has developed.

However, some caution in the interpretation of the results is necessary, as underlined in an accompanying editorial by Salvatore Petta, MD, PhD, of the Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Di.Bi.M.I.S., University of Palermo, Italy, and Giulio Marchesini, MD, of the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), ''Alma Mater" University, Bologna, Italy., In fact, the study included only an elderly Caucasian population and there were few participants in the no-coffee or no-tea control groups, which limit a straightforward conclusion about the effect of coffee and tea on the liver.. The amount of tea consumed was generally low, making estimation of any protective effect difficult. Further, they note that more than 100 components are present in coffee and tea, including polyphenols and caffeine, which are contained in both beverages in very different and variable amounts.

Hence, when asked "Should we add regular coffee and tea breaks to our daily life? Dr. Petta's and Dr. Marchesini's conclusion is, "Before this policy can be recommended, prospective studies are needed to identify the optimum amounts and the type(s) of coffee and tea leading to more favorable liver outcomes."

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Materials provided by Elsevier. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Starving prostate cancer with what you eat: Apple peels, red grapes, turmeric

When you dine on curry and baked apples, enjoy the fact that you are eating something that could play a role starving -- or even preventing -- cancer.

New research from The University of Texas at Austin identifies several natural compounds found in food, including turmeric, apple peels and red grapes, as key ingredients that could thwart the growth of prostate cancer, the most common cancer afflicting U.S. men.

Published online this week in Precision Oncology, the new paper uses a novel analytical approach to screen numerous plant-based chemicals instead of testing a single agent as many studies do, discovering specific combinations that shrink prostate cancer tumors.

"After screening a natural compound library, we developed an unbiased look at combinations of nutrients that have a better effect on prostate cancer than existing drugs," says corresponding author Stefano Tiziani, assistant professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Dell Pediatric Research Institute at UT Austin. "The beauty of this study is that we were able to inhibit tumor growth in mice without toxicity."

During the past decade, some cancer research has highlighted the potential therapies found in plants, including chemicals found in foods such as turmeric, apple peels and green tea. These compounds minimize one of the risk factors for cancer, inflammation within the body. People who have chronic inflammation because of chronic infection, autoimmune disease or conditions such as obesity have a higher cancer risk because of damage to normal cells.

The researchers first tested 142 natural compounds on mouse and human cell lines to see which inhibited prostate cancer cell growth when administered alone or in combination with another nutrient. The most promising active ingredients were then tested on model animals: ursolic acid, a waxy natural chemical found in apple peels and rosemary; curcumin, the bright yellow plant compound in turmeric; and resveratrol, a natural compound common to red grapes or berries.

"These nutrients have potential anti-cancer properties and are readily available," says Tiziani. "We only need to increase concentration beyond levels found in a healthy diet for an effect on prostate cancer cells."

The new research paper also demonstrates how the plant-based chemicals work together. Combining ursolic acid with either curcumin or resveratrol prevents cancer cells from gobbling something that they need to grow, glutamine. This is a neat solution: blocking the uptake of a nutrient needed by prostate cancer cells with nutrients that are commonly in the human diet.

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Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Texas at Austin. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Alessia Lodi, Achinto Saha, Xiyuan Lu, Bo Wang, Enrique Sentandreu, Meghan Collins, Mikhail G. Kolonin, John DiGiovanni, Stefano Tiziani. Combinatorial treatment with natural compounds in prostate cancer inhibits prostate tumor growth and leads to key modulations of cancer cell metabolism. npj Precision Oncology, 2017; 1 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41698-017-0024-z

7 Scientifically Backed Tips to Help Improve Your Eating Habits

Are you struggling to stay consistent with your diet or create a healthy lifestyle you enjoy?

These days it’s very common for strict and obsessive eating habits to form when one is dieting.

However, this rarely lasts long term and fails to address the key principles of forming long-term healthy eating habits.

In this article, I provide you with 7 scientifically backed tips to help improve your eating habits and create a long-term sustainable plan you enjoy!

1. EAT LOW ENERGY DENSE FOODS

Adding in more low-energy dense foods into your diet is a quick and easy way to improve your eating habits. The density of a food may be described as the calorie content relative to its weight or volume¹.

For example, 100 grams of broccoli contains roughly 30 calories, whereas 100 grams of peanut butter contains 400 calories. In this case, broccoli is the lower energy dense food.

Eating too many calories is one of the main factors responsible for weight gain and obesity. Research has shown when you consume low energy dense diets, you also consume fewer calories and as a result lose more weight.²

But that’s not all, by switching your food intake from high calorie dense foods to low calorie dense foods you’ll naturally eat more whole foods.

Increasing your whole food intake not only increases the amount of vital nutrients in your diet, but has been shown to help your brain signal to stop eating after a meal. This signal is often delayed or negatively affected with diets high in processed foods³.

If you struggle to feel full constantly, then eating more low energy dense foods has been shown to make your meals last longer and, as a result, increases your feeling of fullness after a meal. The key reasons for this are lower energy dense foods have a higher water content and are high in fiber⁴.

One study analyzed the effects of switching an individual’s diet from primarily high energy dense foods to low energy dense foods for a full year. By using this simple but powerful healthy eating principle the participants lost an average of 17lbs!

Low Energy Dense Food List:

• Vegetables (especially the green leafy ones)
• Grilled chicken
• Turkey
• Tilapia
• Fruits, especially apples, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries
• Greek yogurt
• Eggs
• Potatoes
• Legumes
• Oatmeal

2. INCREASE YOUR PROTEIN INTAKE

Another easy but fundamental way to improve your eating habits is to increase your daily protein intake. Diets high in protein have been shown to result in reductions in appetite, hunger hormones, and ultimately lead to greater weight loss.

If you’re worried about any potential health effects with a high protein diet, you have nothing to fear. A recent study investigated the effects of high protein diets well above the recommended daily allowance (RDA) and concluded that high protein diets are safe and effective for resistance trained individuals⁶.

Another study investigated the effects of protein intake on calorie consumption and weight loss. These researchers concluded that diets high in protein increased satiety from meals, reduced participants’ hunger as well as increased weight loss compared to low protein diets⁷.

One way to immediately increase your protein intake is by kick-starting your day with a high protein breakfast such as eggs or a protein shake. Beginning your day with a high protein breakfast has been shown to reduce daily hunger, increase daily fullness, and even reduce night time snacking!⁹

If you count calories or track macros, aim for 1g of protein per 1LB of bodyweight. This usually equals 120-200g of protein per day depending on size and has shown to be sufficient to maximize the benefits of protein.

Here’s a list of high protein foods:

• Eggs
• Steak
• Chicken breast
• Oats
• Fish (tuna, salmon, tilapia)
• Turkey
• Cheese
• Milk
• Almonds
• Cottage cheese
• Greek yogurt
• Quinoa
• Lentils

3. USE SMALLER PLATES OR BOWLS WHEN EATING

Did you know 54% of American’s claim they eat until they clean their plates?¹⁰

Eating the right portion sizes is critical for maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle. When used properly, eating the right portion sizes can help ensure you're consuming the necessary nutrients and an optimal amount of calories, without the need to track or become obsessive with macros if you don’t enjoy it.

It’s human nature to use our visual senses to determine how much food we’ve eaten/ have left to eat. For example, how often have you eaten a full plate of food or your entire meal even if you were full?

Instead of this being harmful to your diet, flip it around and use it to your advantage! Simply use smaller plates and bowls or prepare smaller meals. By using this technique you quickly and easily reduce calorie intake and promote fat loss, while creating long-term healthy eating habits.

4. DRINKING WATER BEFORE A MEAL

Everyone knows the importance of water for survival and overall health. Water makes up around 60% of the human body and we can only survive for a few days without it.

Drinking water before a meal may increase satiety and reduce calorie intake. Multiple studies have been conducted on the topic and in a recent review these researchers found when water was removed before a meal caloric intake per meal increased on average by 8.7%.¹¹

Importantly, other forms of fluid such as sugary soda may not have the same benefit. One group of researchers analyzed over 15 studies comparing just that and discovered calorie intake increased on average by 7.8% when drinking a sweetened beverage before a meal.¹¹

For long-term fat loss, results demonstrated that both groups lost fat mass; however the group that drank water before each meal lost 11.8lbs compared to only 7.26lbs in the non-water group¹².

Try drinking a large glass of 12-16oz of cold water 30 minutes before your main meal along with increasing daily water intake. This will likely reduce your total daily food intake, help improve satiety, aid in health, and potentially even increase performance.

5. ADD MORE FIBER INTO YOUR DIET

Adding more fiber into your diet may be one of the most beneficial ways to improve your health and physique. High fiber diets have been shown to decrease total food intake, body weight, and fight disease such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and heart disease¹³.

One study investigated the addition of increased dietary fiber to a low calorie diet and as a result, the fiber group significantly improved weight loss. The placebo group lost 12.72lbs whereas the fiber group lost 17.6lbs.

Eating more fiber is a great and healthy habit for several reasons. Firstly, a high fiber diet typically includes low energy dense foods such as vegetables and grains, which, as we mentioned earlier, is a great way to reduce calorie intake while still eating a sufficient amount of food.

Other research has shown high fiber foods increase chewing which results in an increased secretion of saliva and gastric juices. This increases the feeling of fullness. Lastly, fiber decreases the absorption efficiency of the small intestine which may aid in weight loss and nutrient absorption over time¹⁴.

Here are some high fiber foods:

• Avocado
• Apples
• Raspberries
• Bananas
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Artichoke
• Brussels Sprouts
• Lentils
• Kidney beans
• Chickpeas
• Quinoa
• Oatmeal
• Almonds
• Sweet potatoes

6. PLATES FILLED WITH MIXED COLORS

Although this isn’t a mainstream tip or method, having a plate filled with different colors means you’re likely consuming a meal containing a variety of essential nutrients. This will also reduce the amount of “white” or starchy foods which tend to be higher in calories and easier to overeat.

For fruits and vegetables, the different colors all provide different and specific vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants.

Related: How to Reduce Inflammation With These Foods and Supplements

Plenty of research suggests having at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day may lead to the prevention of chronic diseases¹⁵. This is likely due to the low energy density of these foods combined with high amounts of micro nutrients and fiber. For weight loss, research has also continually shown more fruits and vegetables promote fat loss and long-term weight maintenance.¹⁶

Here’s an example of a colorful plate:

Salmon- Pink
Broccoli- Green
Sweet potato- Orange
Raspberries & Blue berries- Red and Blue

7. INTERMITTENT FASTING

Intermittent fasting is a fascinating research proven technique that can help some people eat better and create a maintainable weight and lifestyle. Often referred to as time-restricted feeding, intermittent fasting incorporates a daily schedule of fasting and feeding, with the feeding period typically placed around the training session.

Intermittent fasting boasts several benefits that extend further than simply helping you lose body fat and maintaining muscle. Surprisingly, in some cases it seems to do so more effectively than traditional calorie restriction alone, especially in obese populations.

Based on several research studies it can reduce hunger, increase insulin sensitivity, and increase fat loss. There are various different ways you can apply intermittent fasting, including a 12 hour fast with a 12 hour feed all the way to a 16 hour or even 20 hour fast.

Example Fasting Day:

• Fast until 11am
• 11:00 a.m. Meal 1
• 3:00 p.m. Meal 2
• 7:00 p.m. Meal 3
• 9:00 – 10:00 p.m. Pre-bed Protein Snack

SUMMARY

Hopefully these 7 scientifically backed tips will help you improve your eating habits and aid in your physique goals. Remember, it’s often the smaller but consistent changes that can have the biggest impact.

Here is a summary of all 7 points:

1. Next time you go shopping keep an eye out for low energy dense foods, to keep you full and help you lose weight.
2. Don’t be afraid to bump up the protein! This will increase satiety as well as the thermic effect of food.
3. Switch to smaller portion sizes to adhere to your recommended portion sizes.
4. Drink a glass of water before dinner to increase satiety and not consume as many calories per sitting!
5. Add some fiber into your diet for gut health and weight loss!
6. Mix up the colors to ensure you are eating highly nutritious foods.
7. Lastly, give intermittent fasting a try if you want to lose weight and prefer fewer but bigger meals!

References

1. Epstein, L. H., Paluch, R. A., Beecher, M. D., & Roemmich, J. N. (2008). Increasing healthy eating vs. reducing high energy‐dense foods to treat pediatric obesity. Obesity, 16(2), 318-326.
2. Cutler, D. M., Glaeser, E. L., & Shapiro, J. M. (2003). Why have Americans become more obese?. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17(3), 93-118.
3. Drewnowski, A. (1998). Energy density, palatability, and satiety: implications for weight control. Nutrition reviews, 56(12), 347-353.
4. Duncan, K. H., Bacon, J. A., & Weinsier, R. L. (1983). The effects of high and low energy density diets on satiety, energy intake, and eating time of obese and nonobese subjects. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 37(5), 763-767.
5. Ello-Martin, J. A., Roe, L. S., Ledikwe, J. H., Beach, A. M., & Rolls, B. J. (2007). Dietary energy density in the treatment of obesity: a year-long trial comparing 2 weight-loss diets. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 85(6), 1465-1477.
6. Antonio, J., Peacock, C. A., Ellerbroek, A., Fromhoff, B., & Silver, T. (2014). The effects of consuming a high protein diet (4.4 g/kg/d) on body composition in resistance-trained individuals. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 11(1), 1.
7. Weigle, D. S., Breen, P. A., Matthys, C. C., Callahan, H. S., Meeuws, K. E., Burden, V. R., & Purnell, J. Q. (2005). A high-protein diet induces sustained reductions in appetite, ad libitum caloric intake, and body weight despite compensatory changes in diurnal plasma leptin and ghrelin concentrations. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 82(1), 41-48
8. Swaminathan, R., King, R. F., Holmfield, J., Siwek, R. A., Baker, M., & Wales, J. K. (1985). Thermic effect of feeding carbohydrate, fat, protein and mixed meal in lean and obese subjects. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 42(2), 177-181.
9. Leidy, H. J., Ortinau, L. C., Douglas, S. M., & Hoertel, H. A. (2013). Beneficial effects of a higher-protein breakfast on the appetitive, hormonal, and neural signals controlling energy intake regulation in overweight/obese,“breakfast-skipping,” late-adolescent girls. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 97(4), 677-688.
10. Wansink, B., Painter, J. E., & North, J. (2005). Bottomless bowls: why visual cues of portion size may influence intake. Obesity research, 13(1), 93-100.
11. Daniels, M. C., & Popkin, B. M. (2010). Impact of water intake on energy intake and weight status: a systematic review. Nutrition reviews, 68(9), 505-521.
12. Dennis, E. A., Dengo, A. L., Comber, D. L., Flack, K. D., Savla, J., Davy, K. P., & Davy, B. M. (2010). Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle‐aged and older adults. Obesity, 18(2), 300-307.
13. A. Parnell, J., & A. Reimer, R. (2012). Prebiotic fiber modulation of the gut microbiota improves risk factors for obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Gut microbes, 3(1), 29-34.
14. Slavin, J. L. (2005). Dietary fiber and body weight. Nutrition, 21(3), 411-418.
15. Who, J., & Consultation, F. E. (2003). Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases. World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser, 916(i-viii).
16. Sartorelli, D. S., Franco, L. J., & Cardoso, M. A. (2008). High intake of fruits and vegetables predicts weight loss in Brazilian overweight adults. Nutrition Research, 28(4), 233-238.
17. Moro, T., Tinsley, G., Bianco, A., Marcolin, G., Pacelli, Q. F., Battaglia, G., ... & Paoli, A. (2016). Effects of eight weeks of time-restricted feeding (16/8) on basal metabolism, maximal strength, body composition, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk factors in resistance-trained males. Journal of Translational Medicine, 14(1), 290

7 Reasons Diets Fail (and How To Fix Them)

You are focused and won't let anything get in the way of achieving your goals.

You have a nutrition plan and are ready to take action but will you make these mistakes?

Below are the top 7 reasons I see people fail when it comes to their diet.

Don't make these rookie mistakes and let this be the year you achieve your dream physique.

MISTAKE #1: NOT KNOWING HOW MUCH YOU ARE EATING

Knowing how much you are eating is the most important factor for dieting success. When I say how much you are eating, I'm talking about calories, not the volume of food. The number of calories you consume will determine the changes you see in your physique (or lack of).

To control our body composition, we must understand the energy balance equation. Energy balance is the sum of calories in vs. calories out.

• Calories In = The calories we consume (and absorb) through our diet.
• Calories Out = The calories we burn through our basal metabolic rate (normal body function), thermic effect of feeding (digestion and processing of nutrients), thermic effect of activity (formal exercise), and non-exercise activity thermogenesis (subconscious movement).

Energy balance dictates body weight change based on the first law of thermodynamics, which states energy cannot be created or destroyed. When you consume more calories (energy) than your body needs, you gain weight. If you consume fewer calories than your body needs, you lose weight.

To know exactly how much you are eating, you need to track your diet. If you don't know how many calories you are consuming, how do you expect to make progress?

FIX: KNOW YOUR NUMBERS

First, determine how many calories you need to maintain your body weight. To do this, you can use a BMR calculator.

If your goal is to lose fat, subtract 250-500 calories per day from the results. This deficit will theoretically result in 1-2 pounds of weight loss per week. If your goal is to build muscle, I would only add 200-400 calories per day to be in a slight surplus. Overfeeding doesn't help you put on muscle quicker and will just put on extra body fat.

Related: 5 Tips to a Successful Bulking Season

Next, track your diet to make sure you consume the right amount of calories for your goal. You can use a nutrition tracking app or old-fashioned pen and paper. If you aren't making fast enough progress, you may have to increase or decrease calories. This is something you need to experiment with.

MISTAKE #2: NOT EATING ENOUGH PROTEIN

If you are a bodybuilder, you likely don't have this problem. It tends to be an issue for those starting out in fitness. They assume an adequate intake but are far from it (at least for physique related goals).

Currently, the RDA for protein is 0.8g/kg/day. This is to prevent deficiency in sedentary individuals and isn't adequate for athletes. Protein intakes above the RDA aren't harmful to healthy people and may have benefits.

Protein Benefits:

• Increases satiety^1,2
• Increases thermogenesis (calories to digest, absorb, and process it)^1,2
• Help preserve muscle while dieting²
• High-protein diets help build more muscle and strength ³

^​Increasing protein can lead to body composition changes if your intake is low (even when total calories are the same). This happens because the thermic effect of protein (calories to digest, absorb, and process it) can be four times that carbs and fats.⁴ When you swap out these macronutrients for protein, you burn more calories overall.

As you can see, there are many benefits to a higher protein intake. Not getting enough could result in sub-par progress.

FIX: UP THE PROTEIN

To solve this problem, you need to know how much protein to consume. For athletes, it appears 1.4-2.0 g/kg/day (0.6-0.9 g/lb) is enough to maximize the benefits of protein.⁵ That isn't to say more is bad, but it probably won't lead to more gains.

It's important your protein comes from high-quality sources. A quality source contains all nine essential amino acids (threonine, valine, tryptophan, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, methionine, histidine). High-quality protein sources tend to come from animal products.

Recommended Protein Sources:

• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast
• Low fat pork
• Lean beef
• Fish
• Eggs and egg whites
• Greek yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Low-fat dairy products
• Whey protein

MISTAKE #3: DRASTICALLY CHANGING YOUR DIET AND HABITS

A common approach people take when starting a diet is to change everything at once. For example, they go from no diet to a strict meal plan that has them eating out of Tupperware every three hours. They completely overhaul their diet and try to make it perfect. I'm going to let you in on a secret, the perfect diet doesn't exist.

Completely changing your eating habits can be overwhelming. It causes people to fail because they get paralysis by analysis. They examine every aspect of their diet and worry about small details that don't matter (at least at the beginning). When this happens, change becomes a daunting task, and it makes the diet much harder to stick to.

FIX: MAKE SMALL CHANGES

Change one aspect of your diet at a time. Doing this will have two benefits. First, you can focus all your energy on mastering one habit or variable. Second, you will learn what is causing the changes you see in your body. In a way, it's like performing a study on yourself because you are only changing one variable.

Once you can master one aspect of your diet, move onto the next. You may feel like things are moving too slow, but these small changes add up to a significant change over time. You will end up with a diet and lifestyle that is much more sustainable.

Related: How to Meal Prep - The Ultimate Guide & Recipes

MISTAKE #4: FOCUSING TOO MUCH ON FOOD CHOICES

You are probably wondering how focusing on food choices can be a mistake?

By focusing too much on food choices, you aren't taking into account calories and macronutrients. As we discussed earlier, the composition of your diet has one of the biggest impacts on your physique.

Our bodies don't see specific foods, they see calories, macronutrients, and micronutrients. By only focusing on food choices, you can end up eating the wrong amounts for your goals.

People that become hyper-focused on foods can develop an unhealthy relationship with food. It can cause them to label foods as either good or bad, which can be very damaging. A single food can't be labeled as good or bad, it must be examined in the context of the whole diet.

Don't get me wrong, focusing on consuming healthy foods is good but too much of a good thing can be bad.

FIX: FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY

Your diet will be more sustainable if you aren't hyper-focused on food choices. Sustainability is one of the most important factors in a diet's success. If you can't stick to the diet, how do you expect it to work?

Be sure to eat an appropriate amount of calories and macronutrients for your goals. Don't stress too much what foods they are coming from. Hit your macronutrient targets (including fiber) with mostly healthy foods, and you will be okay.

Bonus: Quickly calculate your nutrition targets with this macro calculator. It tells you how much protein, fat, carbs, and fiber you should consume based on your goals.

MISTAKE #5: NOT FOCUSING ENOUGH ON FOOD CHOICES

Not focusing enough on food choices can be a problem too. If you only worry about calories and macronutrients, you may develop micronutrient deficiencies. Each food contains different vitamins and minerals, and if you consume the same foods over and over, you may have gaps in nutrients.

A popular trend within the fitness industry is IIFYM. If you aren't familiar with IIFYM, it stands for "if it fits your macros." It involves hitting macronutrient targets (based on your goals) with foods you enjoy. It broke the notion that there are magic foods you have to eat to be fit.

IIFYM has been a positive change for the industry, but some have altered its meaning. They use this approach to try and fit a bunch of junk food in their diet, which is not what it was intended for. These people make the mistake of not focusing where their macros come from.

FIX: EAT A DIVERSE DIET

Be sure to include a variety of foods in your diet, especially fruits and vegetables. A practical strategy to avoid micronutrient deficiencies is by having a fruit or vegetable with each meal.

Aim to hit your macro targets through healthy, nutrient-dense foods most of the time. I would keep "junk" food to around 10-20% of total calories. This is a good middle ground between mistake #4 and #5. It makes the diet more sustainable, yet avoids the chance of micronutrient deficiencies.

MISTAKE #6: NOT MONITORING YOUR PROGRESS

Not tracking your progress is a huge mistake if your goal is to transform your body. Your diet will likely fail if you don't do it because you won't know if it's working. You need to know if your efforts are working and what better way than to track your body weight, measurements, and appearance in the mirror.

Tracking progress can also provide positive reinforcement. When you see your efforts paying off, it's motivating. This motivation makes it easier to stick to the diet. If you aren’t monitoring your progress on a regular basis, you are making a huge mistake.

FIX: TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

Choose a way of tracking your progress. Some people enjoy numbers and are better off tracking body weight and measurements. Others prefer to watch their appearance in the mirror and pictures. The important part is monitoring and being consistent with it.

Related: Forging Elite Fitness - The Reason You're Not Shredded

Pick the method of your choice and use it to determine if your diet is working. If it isn't, you can make changes and watch what happens with your body.

For example, if my goal is fat loss, I weigh myself every day and watch the trend. I compare weekly averages to see if I'm losing 0.5-1.0% each week. If I notice I'm below this range, I will drop my calories to get fat loss rolling again. If I didn't track my progress, I wouldn't know when to make these critical adjustments.

MISTAKE #7: NOT HAVING AN EXIT STRATEGY

Do you have a plan for when the diet is done, and you reach your goal? If not, you are setting yourself up for failure. If you go back to your old habits and way of eating, you will go back to your old body. A fat loss diet can't last forever, and you need a plan for when it's over.

Weight regain is one of the biggest problems when it comes to dieting success. At the end of a diet, our bodies are primed both mentally and physically to gain fat quickly.⁶ This is our body’s biological response to dieting.

Here's what one study published in The American Journal of Physiology had to say about a successful diet:

"To be successful in the long term, our strategies for preventing weight regain may need to be just as comprehensive, persistent, and redundant, as the biological adaptations they are attempting to counter."⁶

As you can see, not having a plan for when your diet is over is a huge mistake. Avoid putting on an excessive amount of body fat by planning ahead.

FIX: PLAN AHEAD

To prevent excessive fat gain, you should slowly and strategically increase calories (from carbs and fats). This is a strategy called "reverse dieting," and it helps get your metabolism back to pre-dieting levels.

Immediately after the diet is over, you should increase calories by roughly 10-15%. This will get you out of a deficit and help you to start feeling normal again. Then, increase calories by 50-150 weekly and watch how your body is responding.

You should be tracking your weight and comparing pictures each week. Continue to add calories until you start consistently gaining weight each week. Most people are able to increase calories significantly without putting on too much body fat.

YOUR NEW BODY AWAITS

These are the top 7 reasons I see people fail when it comes to dieting.

By avoiding these mistakes, you will be much further ahead in your fitness journey.

Just remember, achieving your goal physique will take time, so be patient and work hard.

references

1. The effects of high protein diets on thermogenesis, satiety and weight loss: a critical review.
2. A brief review of higher dietary protein diets in weight loss: a focus on athletes.
3. Dietary protein to maximize resistance training: a review and examination of protein spread and change theories.
4. The effects of high protein diets on thermogenesis, satiety and weight loss: a critical review.
5. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise.
6. Biology's response to dieting: the impetus for weight regain.

Timing meals later at night can cause weight gain and impair fat metabolism

New findings suggest eating late at night could be more dangerous than you think. Compared to eating earlier in the day, prolonged delayed eating can increase weight, insulin and cholesterol levels, and negatively affect fat metabolism, and hormonal markers implicated in heart disease, diabetes and other health problems, according to results from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The findings offer the first experimental evidence on the metabolic consequences of consistent delayed eating compared to daytime eating, and will be presented at SLEEP 2017, the 31st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS), on Sunday, June 4.

"We know from our sleep loss studies that when you're sleep deprived, it negatively affects weight and metabolism in part due to late-night eating, but now these early findings, which control for sleep, give a more comprehensive picture of the benefits of eating earlier in the day," said Namni Goel, PhD, a research associate professor of psychology in Psychiatry in the division of Sleep and Chronobiology, and lead author of the ongoing study. "Eating later can promote a negative profile of weight, energy, and hormone markers -- such as higher glucose and insulin, which are implicated in diabetes, and cholesterol and triglycerides, which are linked with cardiovascular problems and other health conditions."

In the study, nine healthy weight adults underwent two conditions, one of daytime eating (i.e., three meals and two snacks between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.) for eight weeks and another of delayed eating (i.e., three meals and two snacks eating from noon to 11 p.m.) for eight weeks. There was a two-week washout period between conditions to make sure there was no carry over effect. The sleep period was held constant, between 11 p.m. to 9 a.m.

Participants visited Penn's Center for Human Phenomic Science to get metabolic measures and blood drawn at the beginning, after the first eating condition, after the two-week washout, and after the second eating condition. This allowed the team to measure changes in weight, metabolism and energy used, and made sure the two week washout allowed all measures to return to baseline before the next condition.

The team found that when participants ate later, compared to the daytime condition, weight increased. Respiratory quotient, i.e. the ratio of carbon dioxide produced by the body to oxygen consumed by the body that indicates which macronutrients are being metabolized, also rose during the delayed eating condition, indicating later eating led to metabolizing fewer lipids and more carbs. The researchers also found that a series of other measures reflecting negative metabolic profiles increased in the delayed condition, including insulin, fasting glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.

Conducting a 24-hour hormonal profile, they also found that in during daytime eating condition, the hormone ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, peaked earlier in the daytime, while leptin, which keeps you satiated, peaked later, suggesting that the participants received cues to eat earlier, and eating earlier likely helped them to stay satiated longer. This suggests that eating earlier may help prevent overeating in the evening and at night. As sleep-wake cycles were constant, melatonin levels remained constant in both groups.

"While lifestyle change is never easy, these findings suggest that eating earlier in the day may be worth the effort to help prevent these detrimental chronic health effects," said Kelly Allison, PhD, an associate professor of psychology in Psychiatry and director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders, and senior author on the study. "We have an extensive knowledge of how overeating affects health and body weight, but now we have a better understanding of how our body processes foods at different times of day over a long period of time."

Similar yet much shorter previous studies have suggested similar results, but this is the first long-term study looking at the timing of eating patterns that also controlled for sleep-wake cycles, exercise, macronutrient intake, etc. to pinpoint the effects of prolonged eating at different times of day.

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Materials provided by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Clinical trial shows experimental drug's ability to knock down pancreatic cancer's defense

By adding an experimental drug to a standard chemotherapy regimen, a subset of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer had a significantly longer period before the cancer progressed as compared with those who received the standard treatment, according to a Phase 2 clinical trial led by an investigator at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The randomized, controlled trial found that when the experimental therapy was given to participants whose tumors had a lot of the drug's target molecule, they had four months more of progression-free survival than participants in the control group who only had the chemo.

For anyone not familiar with the rapid deadliness of pancreatic cancer, it may be hard to see the significance of the few additional months before disease progression. But time is precious for patients with this cancer: Only about 8 percent of all pancreatic cancer patients survive five years after diagnosis.

Dr. Sunil Hingorani, the faculty member at Fred Hutch who led the trial, is scheduled to present the findings at 10:24 a.m., June 4, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago. ASCO abstract number 4008.

Hingorani said that the results reassure him that it was the right move to advance the drug, called PEGPH20, into the worldwide Phase 3 trial that opened last year.

"We still haven't fully proven anything yet, strictly speaking, but I think [this strategy] is very rational," he said. "Let me put it this way: I think it would be irresponsible not to finish the global Phase 3 trial as the most rigorous test of this hypothesis. I think we're obligated now to answer the question."

Hingorani consults for Halozyme, the PEGPH20 drugmaker and the sponsor of these trials. The company began this year to provide funding through Fred Hutch to support Hingorani's research on the drug.

Hingorani's earlier research led him to the drug because he believed it could address a challenge posed by many pancreatic cancers: The tumors have very high internal pressures that collapse local blood vessels and prevent cancer-killing drugs from getting in. PEGPH20 reduces those pressures so chemotherapies circulating in the blood can penetrate tumors.

The experimental drug, which was created from the blueprint of a naturally occurring enzyme, breaks down a molecule called hyaluronic acid that is produced in bulk by many pancreatic cancers.

Hyaluronic acid, or HA, is naturally found in the human body; it readily binds water to create a gel fluid, making it an excellent shock-absorber in your knees, for example. But in pancreatic tumors, it spells trouble. As the gel fluid builds up, it raises the tumor's internal pressure, squeezing local blood vessels shut. Patients whose tumors have a lot of HA also tend to have a poor prognosis.

Hingorani and his team first conducted studies in mice that showed how PEGPH20, in combination with chemo, permanently reduced the amount of pressure-boosting HA inside the mouse tumors. It caused the tumors to shrink and increased the mice's survival time.

In the Phase 2 trial, patients with late-stage pancreatic cancer were randomly assigned to receive a standard-of-care, first-line combination chemotherapy either with or without PEGPH20. When the results of all 234 evaluable patients on Halo 202 were grouped together, the apparent benefit of PEGPH20 was small ? a matter of just a couple extra weeks of progression-free survival.

"If this was all the potential that this strategy represented, I wouldn't pursue this [research further]," Hingorani said. "That's not enough for me."

But a stark difference emerged when the results were divided up by how much of the drug's target, HA, patients' tumors contained: In the subset of 80 patients whose tumors had high levels of HA, adding PEGPH20 to chemo resulted in an average of 9.2 months before disease progression; with chemo alone, this timespan was just 5.2 months.

Hingorani also reported that the unexpected, elevated risk of blood clots associated with PEGPH20 ? which resulted in a temporary halt of the trial in 2014 ? equalized between the patients receiving PEGPH20 and those in the control group, and dropped overall, after the study was restarted, due to the addition of a blood thinner to all patients' regimens.

"These are the real take-home messages to me, namely, the progression-free survival in target-rich [high-HA] patients and the ability to give the enzyme safely," Hingorani said.

Because the Phase 2 trial results suggest that the benefit of the experimental drug is restricted to the patients with high levels of HA in their tumors, only patients with such tumors qualify for the new Phase 3 trial. And the Phase 3 trial is designed to offer a more stringent test of the benefits of the new drug than its predecessor: Aimed at advancing the drug toward potential FDA approval, the trial's goal is to determine whether PEGPH20 actually increases participants' lifespans, not just their time to disease progression. (It's possible a treatment could achieve the latter without impacting the former.)

The investigators' exploratory analysis of the Phase 2 trial data suggested that the experimental drug boosted the lifespans of patients with high-HA tumors to an average of nearly a year after diagnosis ? which, if shown definitively in the Phase 3 trial, could be a new benchmark for this cancer, Hingorani said.

Hingorani launched the Phase 3 trial before handing off its leadership to two other colleagues in the field, Dr. Margaret Tempero of the University of California, San Francisco and Dr. Eric Van Cutsem at the University of Leuven in Belgium. As he steps back from his leadership role on this project, Hingorani is satisfied by the solid scientific foundation the investigators have lain to justify moving forward with the development of this drug.

In light of the grim timelines associated with a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, he said, patients have no time to waste on anything less.

"Patients get one shot on goal, if that, with this cancer," he said. "No cancer is more daunting than pancreas cancer."

Treatment-related adverse events for trial participants included peripheral edema (63 percent of those receiving PEGPH20 vs. 26 percent for the control group), muscle spasms (56 percent vs 3 percent), neutropenia (34 percent vs 19 percent), and myalgia (26 percent vs. 7 percent).

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Materials provided by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Olive oil nutrient linked to processes that prevent cancer in brain

A compound found in olive oil may help to prevent cancer developing in the brain, a study shows.

Research into oleic acid -- the primary ingredient in olive oil -- has shown how it can help prevent cancer-causing genes from functioning in cells.

The oily substance -- one of a group of nutrients known as fatty acids -- stimulates the production of a cell molecule whose function is to prevent cancer-causing proteins from forming.

The study team says it is too soon to say whether dietary consumption of olive oil may help prevent brain cancer. Their findings, however, point towards possible therapies based on the oil to prevent brain cancer from occurring.

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh analysed the effect of oleic acid on a cell molecule, known as miR-7, which is active in the brain and is known to suppress the formation of tumours.

They found that oleic acid prevents a cell protein, known as MSI2, from stopping production of miR-7. In this way, the olive oil component supports the production of miR-7, which helps prevent tumours from forming.

Researchers made their discoveries in tests on human cell extracts and in living cells in the lab.

The study, published in the Journal of Molecular Biology, was funded by the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.

Dr Gracjan Michlewski of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who led the study, said: "While we cannot yet say that olive oil in the diet helps prevent brain cancer, our findings do suggest that oleic acid can support the production of tumour-suppressing molecules in cells grown in the lab. Further studies could help determine the role that olive oil might have in brain health."

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Materials provided by University of Edinburgh. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Santosh Kumar, Angela Downie Ruiz Velasco, Gracjan Michlewski. Oleic Acid Induces MiR-7 Processing through Remodeling of Pri-MiR-7/Protein Complex. Journal of Molecular Biology, 2017; 429 (11): 1638 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2017.05.001