Cabbage Soup Diet: Everything You Need To Know

Cabbage Soup Diet is designed to help shed fat fast. Whatever your feelings are on a diet comprised predominantly of cabbage, there's little doubt this week-long plan will help you slim.

The Cabbage Soup Diet has been popular with hardcore dieters for years, mainly because it's a quick fix and can cause people to lose 10 pounds in a very short period of time. But, as with all strict diets, there are health risks to consider. Find out everything you need to know about the Cabbage Soup Diet here (warning: it's not for the fainthearted:

What is the Cabbage Soup Diet?

It's quite self-explanatory. You spend a week, and no more, eating unlimited amounts of low-calorie cabbage soup, which you cook yourself at home. The cabbage soup makes up your staple diet for the week but you are also allowed a small selection of other foods, all designed to help you shed fat fast. People claim to have lost 10lbs in a week on this quick-results diet plan.

How does it work?

It's a very low-fat, yet high-fibre diet. The cabbage soup has virtually no calories in it so by eating pretty much only that you lose weight. It's as simple as that.

What are the pros of the Cabbage Soup Diet?

This cabbage soup diet is super-cheap and a great quick fix for a special event, like a wedding, or a holiday. You only have to stick to it for one week to see good results and so it's easy not to stray. Cabbage itself is also teaming with health benefits. Nutritionist Lovisa Nilsson, says: 'Cabbage is healthy, as it contains plenty of fibre and antioxidants such as vitamin C.'

And the cons?

Critics believe that you are in fact losing water, rather than fat, on the plan which can result in you gaining weight again very quickly once you go back to a normal diet. Personal trainer and fitness coach Scott Laidler says: 'Weight loss is temporary and most people will re-gain any lost weight quickly. Because the Cabage Soup Diet has such a low calorie intake and virtually no protein, almost all weight lost on this diet will be water and muscle, not body fat. This is a real shame because gaining all that weight back can be crushing psychologically, which can lead to comfort eating and loss of motivation to exercise which in turn leads to more weight gain.'The lack of calories can also leave people feeling lightheaded. Scott said: 'Without being used to this level of restriction, most people will experience a lack of energy, headaches and even dizziness, so doing serious exercise whilst on the diet would be out of the question.'

All in all, the Cabbage Soup Diet is in no way a healthy choice in the long-term. Lovisa Nilsson, nutritionist at Lifesum, says: 'Cabbage soup is nutritionally unbalanced as a meal, and it is vital we consume essential nutrients such as proteins, vitamins B and even healthy fats. By following this diet for a lengthily period of time, you are depriving your body of the nutrients it needs and thus defeating any long-term health benefits and maintaining a healthy lifestyl.'

If you are determined to give the diet a go, Lovisa recommends: 'Supplement the soup with, for example, rye bread and some form of protein. You may also find that you get bored of eating cabbage for your meals every day, so I would suggest adding and changing flavours to make each meal more interesting.'

The Cabbage Soup Diet recipe:

6 large onions, chopped 2 green peppers, diced 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole) 250g mushrooms, sliced 1 bunch celery, chopped1/2 head cabbage, chopped 3 carrots, sliced1 package dry onion soup mix1 or 2 cubes bouillon (optional) Salt and pepperFor added flavour: Cayenne pepper, curry powder, mixed herbs or any other seasoning.

Instructions:

1. Use spray oil to sauté the chopped onions in a large pot. 2. Add the green pepper pieces and heat for a minute. 3. Add the chopped cabbage leaves, sliced carrots, celery and mushrooms. 4. Sprinkle over a little cayenne pepper or curry powder. 5. Add 12 cups of water and any additional stock cubes. 6. Cook over a medium heat until the soup is the vegetables are tender and the soup is the right consistency.

The Cabbage Soup Diet meal plan:

Day 1: Unlimited cabbage soup and fruit (excluding bananas). Water and sugar-free fruit juice to drink. Day 2: Cabbage soup and additional vegetables. One jacket potato with butter for dinner. No fruit at all.Day 3: Unlimited cabbage soup plus any fruit and vegetables you choose (excluding potatoes or bananas). Day 4: Unlimited cabbage soup and skimmed milk. Plus up to eight bananas. Day 5: Unlimited cabbage soup and 565g of beef and 6 tomatoes. Drink 6-8 glasses of water today to flush extra uric acid from your body. Day 6: Unlimited cabbage soup and limitless beef and vegetables (excluding potatoes).Day 7: Unlimited cabbage soup with a little brown rice, vegetables and sugar-free fruit juice.

Entities 0 Name: Lovisa Nilsson Count: 2 1 Name: Lovisa Count: 1 2 Name: Scott Laidler Count: 1 3 Name: Lifesum Count: 1 4 Name: Cabbage Soup Diet Count: 1 5 Name: Cabage Soup Diet Count: 1 6 Name: Scott Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1nMevER Title: All the Reasons I Loved Being on the Paleo Diet (but Why I Decided to Stop) Description: Over the years, I've allowed myself to be a guinea pig when it comes to diet trends; I've gone pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan, and most recently, Paleo. Based on the dietary habits of our cave-dwelling ancestors, the Paleo diet has continued to gain popularity within health circles, especially CrossFit enthusiasts.

Gluten

UF/IFAS photo by Tyler L. Jones

The term 'gluten-free' may lead some consumers to think they are getting an overall healthier option, according to new research conducted by nutrition experts at the University of Florida.

Study author Karla Shelnutt, a UF assistant professor in family, youth and community sciences, says the gluten-free diet is popular with women trying to lose weight, but it might not be their best choice if they don't have celiac disease, which affects just 1% of the population.

Refined gluten-free foods are often not fortified with essential vitamins and minerals, she says, and those for whom a gluten-free diet is necessary are advised to carefully balance their diet or take a vitamin supplement.

'The problem is you have a lot of healthy women who choose a gluten-free diet because they believe it is healthier for them and can help them lose weight and give them healthier skin,' says Shelnutt.

For example, Shelnutt says, these women will start avoiding foods like cereals fortified with folic acid, which is well-known to be essential for women's health.

The $10.5 billion gluten-free food and beverage industry grew 44% between 2011 and 2013, according to market research company Mintel, which estimates sales will skyrocket to $15 billion by 2016.

The study was conducted over the course of a day and aimed to assess people's taste for gluten-free foods and their perception of the gluten-free diet by means of taste testing and a questionnaire.

One third of the 97 male and female participants said they believed gluten-free foods were healthier than their conventional counterparts, which surprised Shelnutt and her team, who had expected the figure to be lower.

Nearly 60% of participants said they believed a gluten-free diet can treat adverse medical conditions and 35% believed gluten-free could ameliorate digestive health.

As far as overall health is concerned, 31% of participants believed gluten-free was 'healthier' and 32% believed doctors prescribed gluten-free eating for weight loss and felt that gluten-free would improve the diet in general.

According to Shelnutt, eating gluten-free can lead to weight loss because the diet reduces carbohydrate intake, although this can be achieved without adhering to gluten-free labeling.

Shelnutt admits that a participant group of 97 is not large enough to be considered representative of the general public's opinion, but it does provide important insight.

The study was published in the current edition of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Entities 0 Name: Shelnutt Count: 5 1 Name: Tyler L. Jones Count: 1 2 Name: University of Florida Count: 1 3 Name: Journal of Nutrition Education Count: 1 4 Name: Mintel Count: 1 5 Name: Karla Shelnutt Count: 1 6 Name: UF Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1AxWbED Title: Dieting at young age affects women's health later in life, study says Description: The cultural pressure to stay thin affects many women of all ages; some start watching their weight in adolescence or even younger. But the earlier in life a woman starts dieting, the worse long-term consequences it can have for her health, a new study suggests.

This is the 'single unhealthiest' meal of 2014

Maybe the name 'monster' should be a clue. If not, the nutrition watchdogs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest have news for you: A 'Monster' double burger, served with 'bottomless' fries and a 'Monster' milkshake at the Red Robin burger chain, is not very good for you at all.

At 3,540 calories, it's the 'single unhealthiest' meal the group could find on more than 200 chain restaurant menus it reviewed for the 2014 edition of its not-very-coveted Xtreme Eating Awards. The awards go to dishes and combos especially high in calories, fat, sugar and salt.

The group found it even easier than usual to find nutrition offenders this year, says the center's Paige Einstein, a registered dietitian.

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'In the past, our winners have usually had about 1,500 calories,' she says. 'Most of these dishes have at least 2,000.' They often are on menus that feature new, lighter options, too - but 'those are much smaller parts of the menu,' Einstein says.

While Red Robin gets the top spot, the Cheesecake Factory gets the most - three - for its Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic (2,410 calories), Bruléed French Toast (2,780 calories) and Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake (1,500 calories).

To burn off those calories, the center says, you would have to do:

* 12 hours of brisk walking for the Monster Burger meal* 7 hours of lap-swimming for the French toast.* 5 hours of jogging for the chicken pasta dish* 4.5 hours of aerobics for the cheesecake.

The list also includes a spare rib plate from Famous Dave's; a combo plate from Chevys Fresh Mex; a seafood platter from Joe's Crab Shack; a steak dish from Maggiano's Little Italy; and a deep-dish chicken-bacon-ranch pizza from BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse.

'I don't think people really know just how bad these meals can be in restaurants,' Einstein says, despite years of warnings from the center and others. (The awards have been around since 2007).

Some help is on the way, though, with the federal government preparing to require calorie counts on chain restaurant menus nationwide, she says

Meanwhile, the group says there are ways consumers can help themselves - such as ordering their burgers with steamed broccoli instead of fries (which Red Robin offers) or trying the reduced-calorie menus many chains now feature (including the SkinnyLicious menu at the Cheesecake Factory).

That 50-item, low-calorie menu is 'actually larger than many restaurants' entire menus,' says Alethea Rowe, senior director of public relations for Cheesecake Factory. She says the restaurant 'has always been about choices.'

Denny Marie Post, Red Robin's senior vice president and chief marketing officer, says the burger combo criticized by the center 'combines some of our most indulgent items into one meal.' A customer could just as well order a lettuce-wrapped turkey burger, sans cheese and bun, with a side of broccoli and a light lemonade for 540 calories, she says

Joy Dubost, senior director of nutrition and healthy living for the National Restaurant Association, also emphasized the growth of healthy options in her response to the new report, saying that they 'are not a passing fad, but a top trend across the industry.'

She said the calorie counts soon coming to 250,000 chain restaurant locations nationwide will help consumers 'determine the best menu selections for their diet and lifestyle.'

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Entities 0 Name: Red Robin Count: 3 1 Name: Einstein Count: 2 2 Name: turkey Count: 1 3 Name: Joy Dubost Count: 1 4 Name: Center for Science Count: 1 5 Name: Alethea Rowe Count: 1 6 Name: Paige Einstein Count: 1 7 Name: Dave Count: 1 8 Name: BJ Count: 1 9 Name: Joe Count: 1 10 Name: Denny Marie Post Count: 1 11 Name: National Restaurant Association Count: 1 12 Name: Little Italy Count: 1 13 Name: Maggiano Count: 1 14 Name: Reese Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1rLTKbB Title: Behold the Unhealthiest Meal You Can Eat at a Chain Restaurant Description: At 3,540 calories, this meal is not going to make your waistline happy The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has handed out their annual Xtreme Eating Awards to the fast food meals and chains that they deem the unhealthiest.

How Sweet It Would Be: National Law Would Tax the Stacks Of Sugar In Soda

Photo: Sugarstacks.com Photo: Sugarstacks.com

If you want to see something truly scary, go to the website Sugar Stacks and look at the pyramids of sugar cubes stacked up next to soda containers. That 12-ounce can of Coke (now seen as a small serving) has 10 sugar cubes next to it. The 20-ounce Mountain Dew has 19-and-a-half. And the 64-ounce Double Gulp Coke sold at 7-Eleven has 45-45!-cubes of sugar piled alongside it. That's how many cubes or teaspoons of sugar a person consumes every time they drink one of these sodas.

America has a sugar addiction problem that rivals our addiction to cigarettes a generation ago and it's fueled by the same kinds of marketing campaigns once (and, in some ways, still) employed by tobacco companies. Soda consumption is a major reason why:

Almost 26 million Americans, 8.3 percent of the population, have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association American Diabetes Association . 79 million adults, 35 percent of the adult population, have prediabetes. Obesity in the U.S. has risen from about 15 percent of the population to about 35 percent over the past 40 years. The estimated cost of obesity-related medical care is $190 billion a year.

Similar measures have been placed on the ballot in various cities and localities and so far each has been defeated, buried in a barrage of campaign spending funded by the soda industry. The SWEET Act will face the same opposition and has little chance of passage in today's congress. Yet it's essential that such efforts be tried, that the pot get stirred, that we begin to trigger a sustained national conversation about the damage that soda marketing and consumption is doing to our country's health.

The proposed bill is well thought through. Because the tax is based on the amount of added sugar-not beverage volume-it goes after the real enemy: sugar and the calories that go with it. It also creates an incentive for people to switch to drinks that contain less sugar.

More importantly, perhaps, the bill also dedicates the revenue generated from the tax to the Prevention and Public Health Fund to support 'programs and research designed to reduce the human and economic costs of diabetes, obesity, dental caries and other diet-related health conditions.' Based on today's consumption patterns, the Center for Science in the Public Interest estimates it would raise about $10 billion a year that could fund health and education programs-like the enormously successful anti-smoking media campaigns that have helped slash the number of smokers in the U.S.

That means more people around the country could do what Jaquoby Tyler, now 20, has been doing for the last several years. Tyler is part of a group of young people working with Community Partnership for Youth in Seaside, California, to promote healthy living in their community. He and his friends go into classrooms to talk about health with other kids and show them the stacks of sugar cubes they consume with every soda.

'We asked them: 'Would you eat this much sugar by itself?'' Jaquoby told me. 'They said no. They weren't aware of some of the bad effects that consuming that much sugar can have like diabetes, heart disease, obesity.'

Opponents will criticize the DeLauro bill as nanny-state overreach and make the argument, based on a couple of small studies, that soda-tax increases haven't done much to alter consumption patterns or obesity rates. But these studies have looked at places that imposed much smaller tax levies and that didn't target the revenues at efforts to reduce consumption. That could be key. A poll conducted by the Field organization for the California Endowment and released early this year showed that two-thirds of Californians supported a soda tax if the proceeds were used to fund school nutrition and physical activity efforts.

An interesting test will come in November when both San Francisco and Berkeley voters will vote on measures to impose soda taxes of 1 cent per ounce in Berkeley and 2 cents an ounce in San Francisco. Berkeley's measure will direct the money to the general fund and require simple majority approval. San Francisco's will reserve the proceeds for health-promotion efforts, which may enhance its appeal, but will need to get support from two-thirds of voters.

In Mexico, a peso-per-liter tax on soda that began at the beginning of 2014 has led to declining sales of sugary drinks, with Coca-Cola and other beverage companies reporting sales declines of 2 percent to 3 percent for the first half of the year. The proceeds of the tax are being targeted at increasing access to fresh water, especially in schools.

Fidel Cortes, who shines shoes in Mexico City, told Bloomberg News in March that he's drinking fewer sodas since the price climbed. 'Before I sometimes had three Cokes a day, now I'm down to one or two,' he said. 'It's because the price went up.'

Mexico imposed a similar tax on calorie-dense junk food last year, when it passed the soda tax, and just this month put into place regulations that will keep advertisements for soda and junk food from appearing on afternoon and weekend television programs and before children's movies in theaters. If Mexico-which consumes more soda per person than any other country in the world and has among the highest rates of obesity and diabetes-can regulate marketing, tax soda and use the proceeds to promote health, why not the U.S.?

Just as early proposals to limit smoking were dismissed and belittled only to become law when public attitudes changed, I think the American people and our political leaders will come to understand how vital it is to limit the consumption of sugary drinks. My colleague at Prevention Institute, Larry Cohen, saw those changes first-hand as a leader in the fight against smoking. He helped organize the first multi-city no-smoking laws in the country, shifting the debate in the process. 'Soda and sugary beverages are the new tobacco and the fight to reduce their marketing and consumption is the next great public health battle,' he says.

Entities 0 Name: San Francisco Count: 3 1 Name: Berkeley Count: 3 2 Name: U.S. Count: 3 3 Name: Coke Count: 2 4 Name: California Count: 2 5 Name: Mexico Count: 2 6 Name: Mexico City Count: 1 7 Name: Center for Science Count: 1 8 Name: Community Partnership for Youth Count: 1 9 Name: Public Health Fund Count: 1 10 Name: Field Count: 1 11 Name: Larry Cohen Count: 1 12 Name: Tyler Count: 1 13 Name: Mountain Dew Count: 1 14 Name: Jaquoby Tyler Count: 1 15 Name: American Diabetes Association American Diabetes Association Count: 1 16 Name: Public Interest Count: 1 17 Name: America Count: 1 18 Name: Bloomberg News Count: 1 19 Name: Prevention Institute Count: 1 20 Name: American Count: 1 21 Name: Fidel Cortes Count: 1 22 Name: Coca-Cola Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1o9QUZQ Title: Introducing the National Soda Tax Description: Get this: Rosa DeLauro, the brave and beloved 12-term congresswoman from New Haven, will be introducing a bill in the House of Representatives Wednesday that would require a national tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. And it's about time.

2014's most "Xtreme" restaurant meal is a "monster"

First Coast News2014's most "Xtreme" restaurant meal is a "monster"First Coast NewsAt 3,540 calories, it's the "single unhealthiest" meal the group could find on more than 200 chain restaurant menus it revewed for the 2014 edition of its not-very-coveted Xtreme Eating Awards. The awards go to dishes and combos especially high in ...

All the Reasons I Loved Being on the Paleo Diet (and the One Reason I Decided ...

Over the years, I've allowed myself to be a guinea pig when it comes to diet trends; I've gone pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan, and most recently, Paleo. Based on the dietary habits of our cave-dwelling ancestors, the Paleo diet has continued to gain popularity within health circles, especially CrossFit enthusiasts. This high-protein, low-carb diet strictly prohibits foods like grains, beans, wheat, and dairy and has been linked to story after story of successful weight loss and the elimination of digestive issues. After months of wavering back and forth, I decided to take the plunge, clean up my diet, and embark on a short Paleo project.

Each stint in a different diet has taught me something, but I can say with complete sincerity that my Paleo experiment had profound effects on my relationships with food and my body . . . but I couldn't stick with it forever.

What I Loved

I Stopped Stressing About Calories As someone who had been a slave to counting calories in the past, I found new freedom in taking the focus off of the numbers and on to the ingredients. By default, I was consuming higher-quality, whole foods on the Paleo diet. Not only did I lose weight, but I felt energized from the inside out. Today, I still consider calories when making food choices, but going Paleo helped me realize that calories are not always king - and they're certainly not the only thing you should be considering when planning meals.

I Achieved a New Level of Body Awareness As an avid yogi, I always considered myself to be hyperaware of how food relates to my energy levels and mental clarity. But it only took one week on the Paleo program to see just how strong of a connection exists between diet and workout performance. Before going Paleo, dairy and grains were part of most meals, leading to major belly bloat every day. Yes, different foods do different things to different people, but after going through a small elimination period, I was able to scale back on the foods that were weighing me down.

I Started Treating Food as Fuel In my teenage and college years, I had a serious love-hate relationship with food. Meals regularly felt like battles, and I achieved a false sense of control wavering back and forth all day between periods of fasting and binging, wreaking havoc on my health, my energy, and, not to mention, my metabolism. I've come a long way from those days, but taking on a rigid clean-eating program helped me embrace my food in a whole new way.

For the first time in my life, I was not a member of the clean-plate club. During my Paleo experiment, I never left a meal feeling stuffed and started finding smaller portions more satisfying. The project also forced me to take stock of just how much of my diet had relied on wheat, grain, and dairy products - and how my body feels different when I scale back those foods. Almost out of nowhere, it happened. I was practicing what I had been preaching: I officially grasped the concept that food is not standing in my way; it's helping me function at my top potential.

I Got Back in the Kitchen I've always loved cooking, but with a full-time gig and a serious workout schedule, all of my social engagements and catch-up sessions with friends revolved around dinners out. Taking on a Paleo experiment meant I was going to have to spend a lot more time in my kitchen to prepare Paleo-friendly meals, but I was up for the task.

The first day I went overboard. I decided to prepare four over-the-top, labor-intensive recipes I had spent hours looking for on Pinterest . . . on one Sunday afternoon. Once I got that stressful experience out of my system, I learned how to prep meals in advance and throw together an easy breakfast or supper at home. While I still enjoy the occasional meal out during the week, a lot more of my weeknights are spent cooking with friends in my kitchen.

Why I Stopped

I have many friends who have found success with a Paleo lifestyle, but most of them take an 80/20 approach to the program; 80 percent of the time you follow all Paleo rules, and 20 percent of the time you have the freedom to indulge as you please. Some people thrive in this system of clear-cut rules, but my Paleo experience solidified a fact I've known about myself for a long time: I am just not one of those people.

When someone tells me I can't eat something, it's all I can think about, and then I would eat it. A lot of it. Since I've struggled with food in the past, it's important for me to feel like I have options. While eliminating certain food groups from my diet helped me achieve a new sense of body awareness, I didn't like that some foods were strictly off-limits in the Paleo diet. According to trainers Chris and Heidi Powell, 'Anytime you deprive yourself of food . . . all you want is what you can't have,' and for me, this could not be more true.

Now, I'm eating in a way that supports my needs, tastes delicious, and keeps me satisfied. I don't eat bread, pasta, and pizza every day, but when I'm craving it or it's a special occasion, I eat what I want - when I want! - in moderation instead of binging later. Without all the strict diet restrictions comes a more relaxed and balanced relationship with food that naturally aligns with the rest of the relationships in my life. My days of mindlessly scarfing down a big baguette with butter or a huge pizza are long behind me, and I credit my Paleo experiment with this newfound natural balance. It's a priceless and delicious gift I never anticipated receiving from the cavemen.

Entities 0 Name: Paleo Count: 11 1 Name: Chris Count: 1 2 Name: Heidi Powell Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1zlBF8v Title: Light bulb goes on: He lost 100 pounds with plant-based diet Description: In 2009, Benji Kurtz was near his heaviest weight of 278. Only 5 feet 5 inches tall, he was considered severely obese. Editor's note: Do you have a weight-loss success story to share? Tell us how you did it and you could be featured in our weekly weight-loss story on CNN.com.

Restaurant Meals: Xtreme Eating Awards Top 9 High Calorie Meals

The Cheesecake Factory is the winner: three meals listed in the top 9 Xtreme Eating Awards from the watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), rating restaurant foods high in calories, fat, sodium and sugar. Leaders on this list may astonish people with their sheer unwholesomeness. For example, number 9 is the Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, coming in at 1,500 calories, the equivalent of 4 1/2 hours of aerobic exercise.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends a daily diet consisting of approximately 2,000 calories per day, with no more than 44 to 78 grams of fat (about 20 to 35 percent of total calories) and about 16 grams of saturated fat (7 percent of total calories). Each meal on the Xtreme Eating Awards list from CSPI not only includes a lot of calories, but each contains at least a days worth of saturated fat, with one topping out at nearly five days worth.

CSPI advocates for healthier foods, and first handed out its Xtreme Eating Awards in 2007. They ranked meals at over 200 of the top chain restaurants, reviewing menu and nutritional information and, according to CSPI registered dietician Paige Einstein, looking for the worst items they can find. Many menus are beginning to show nutritional content, but restaurants may be reluctant to advertise the amount of calories and fat in some of the foods rating high on the CSPI list. This information will be a requirement in the future for chains that have at least 20 locations, but so far federal regulations regarding this issue are not finalized.

Although some restaurants have been adding some lighter dishes to their menus, Einstein said she thinks people may not be ordering healthier items because they just do not realize how bad the unhealthy items really are. According to industry watchers, restaurant meals with too many calories are the norm. Einstein says people should expect to consume about 1,000 calories in a typical appetizer, another 1,000 calories in a typical entrée and yet another 1,000 calories in dessert. Some of the menu items contain more sugar or saturated fat than a person should consume in an entire week. With consumers eating out more often, even several times a week, this information goes a long way toward explaining the obesity problem in America.

Number 8 on the CSPI list is the Super Cinco Combo from Chevys Fresh Mex, at 1,920 calories. Play tennis for 3 1/2 hours to burn this one off.

Number 7, from BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, is the Signature Deep Dish Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza (the small size), at 2,160 calories. Hopefully people eating this one have some place to go, as they will be pedaling their bike nonstop for five hours to get rid of that many calories.

Number 6 also comes from the Cheesecake Factory, their Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic. This one actually sounds sort of healthy, but the portion is enormous and tops out at 2,410 calories, five hours worth of jogging.

Number 5 is Maggiano's Little Italy's Prime New York Steak Contadina style, with 2,420 calories and a portion size big enough to feed a family of four. Plan on hitting the rowing machine for 7 1/2 hours after eating this one.

Number 4 comes from Famous Dave's. The Big Slab of St. Louis-Style Spareribs has 2,770 calories. People should not consume this unless they have a big yard, as it is worth 7 1/2 hours of lawn-mowing.

Number 3 is the Cheesecake Factory yet again. Their Bruleed French Toast (only two pieces) has 2,780 calories and packs in more than five days worth of saturated fat. Seven hours of swimming laps would be needed to burn it off..

Number 2 is the Big 'Hook' Up platter from Joe's Crab Shack, hooking in at 3,280 calories. That is golfing without a caddie or a cart for 11 straight hours.

And the big winner, Number 1 on the Extreme Eating Awards restaurant food rating, comes from Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, with their super-high calorie meal consisting of an A.1. Peppercorn gourmet burger (Monster-Sized), Monster Salted Caramel Milkshake and bottomless steak fries. This combination comes in at a whopping 3,540 calories. The burger alone has 'only' 1,390 calories, but few diners at Red Robin pass on the bottomless fries. People consuming this meal should plan on walking briskly for 12 hours, assuming they can still move.

There are ways to dine in restaurants and eat healthier. Registered Dietician Cynthia Sass recommends reviewing the menu ahead of time and figuring out what to eat before arriving and throwing caution to the wind. Avoid the bread, chips and salsa and other extras that come ahead of the meal and help pack in the calories. She says to order strategically and 'unapologetically.' Many people are hesitant to ask for special meal preparations such as steaming rather than frying, salad dressing on the side or a lettuce wrap in place of a burger bun. Eat slowly, to allow the full feeling to come on gradually, and stick to drinking water, which helps slow eating, fills the stomach and avoids calories from sugary drinks.

The final suggestion Sass offers is to redefine value: it is not necessary to eat every bite of the meal that is served in a restaurant, especially if it is a daring splurge of one of the Xtreme Eating Awards' top 9 high calorie dishes. Eating more than the body needs is still wasting food, only instead of going in the trash it goes in fat cells, where it can be carried around for a long time.

By Beth A. Balen

Entities 0 Name: CSPI Count: 6 1 Name: Einstein Count: 2 2 Name: FDA Count: 1 3 Name: Center for Science Count: 1 4 Name: Sass Count: 1 5 Name: Super Cinco Combo Count: 1 6 Name: Maggiano Count: 1 7 Name: Cynthia Sass Count: 1 8 Name: Paige Einstein Count: 1 9 Name: Big Slab of St. Louis-Style Spareribs Count: 1 10 Name: BJ Count: 1 11 Name: Cheesecake Factory Count: 1 12 Name: Red Robin Count: 1 13 Name: Dave Count: 1 14 Name: Prime New York Steak Contadina Count: 1 15 Name: The Food and Drug Administration Count: 1 16 Name: Joe Count: 1 17 Name: Little Italy Count: 1 18 Name: America Count: 1 19 Name: Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Count: 1 20 Name: Reese Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1qt5Y7P Title: The 'fattest' chain restaurant meal of 2014 is... Description: The Cheesecake Factory July 30, 2014 at 10:43 AM ET Pro tip: If you're watching your waistline, avoid ordering anything with "monster," "bottomless" or "big" in its name. Red Robin's "monster" meal was named the single unhealthiest meal of 2014 in the Center for Science in the Public Interest's "Xtreme Eating Awards."

What To Eat To Get Your Sleep Back On Track

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By Melaina Juntti for Men's Journal

If you work overnight shifts, pull frequent late nights at the office or travel so often that you're constantly jet-lagged, you know how tough it can be to get good, quality sleep -- even when your overtaxed body badly craves it. That's because having an erratic sleep schedule throws off your circadian clock. These cyclical internal rhythms rely on cues from the environment -- most importantly light -- to regulate sleepiness, hunger, metabolism, immune system function and more.

According to a new study, you can get your circadian clock back on track by simply changing your diet.

A team of researchers from Japan found that the connection between diet and circadian rhythm is is all about the insulin. The pancreas secretes this hormone when food is consumed, and certain foods trigger more insulin release than others. Put simply, an insulin rush makes you feel tired. Therefore, the researchers say that by eating foods that cause a lot of insulin to be secreted, you can jolt your circadian clock ahead so you'll become sleepy, just like you should be at end of the day. On the flip side, by consuming foods that do not trigger a big insulin surge, you can dial back your clock to feel alert, just how you'd want to be in the morning.

More from Men's Journal:9 Ways to Make Your Sleep More Efficient10 Products to Help You Sleep Better9 Ways Lack of Sleep is Killing You

To help you hit the sack at a decent hour so you can be up early the next morning, your dinner menu should include lots of carbs, says study author Dr. Makoto Akashi. 'Given that insulin secretion is strongly induced by carbohydrates, if you're an early bird, you may be helped by eating carb-rich foods for dinner, such as pasta, potatoes, and rice,' he says. And then to avoid an insulin-induced crash in the morning, steer clear of carb-heavy breakfast foods like bagels, waffles, and sugary cereals. Eat lean proteins, fruits, veggies and whole grains instead.

Even if you work a 9-to-5 job and your sleep schedule is quasi-normal, your circadian clock still may be out of step with the time of day -- and you might benefit from a little diet manipulation. According to Akashi, most people today lead lifestyles that don't allow sunlight to do the clock-setting as it should. Because we're constantly being exposed to blue-wavelength light emitted from laptop computers, TVs and iPads, our clock is predominantly on a 'night mode that is desynchronized from social life, leading to a kind of jet lag feeling,' he explains. Therefore, Akashi says getting your circadian clock back in sync through food might be a key to better digestion, metabolism and overall health.

Entities 0 Name: Akashi Count: 2 1 Name: Japan Count: 1 2 Name: Melaina Juntti Count: 1 3 Name: Ways Lack of Sleep Count: 1 4 Name: Dr. Makoto Akashi Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1mYYoP5 Title: So Now Kale is Bad For You? - Born Fitness Description: I read an article yesterday that said eating kale would "make you fat." Yes, kale. The same kale that has a whopping 30 calories per cup, is packed with fiber, antioxidants, and calcium, and could help fight inflammation and provide cardiovascular support. Damn you, kale, for being so unhealthy.

Warning over waistline link to type 2 diabetes

Obesity is the leading risk factor for type 2 diabetes

'Belly fat clearest sign of type 2 diabetes risk,' The Guardian reports. This comes as Public Health England publishes a report highlighting the links between bulging waistlines, obesity and type 2 diabetes risk.

According to a new report, men whose waist size is over 102cm (40.2 inches) are five times more likely to develop diabetes than those with a smaller waist size. Women with a waist over 88cm (34.7 inches) are three times more likely to develop the condition.

The report says that being overweight or obese is the main avoidable risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

The condition is now a major public health issue, with all types of diabetes projected to rise to 4.6 million - nearly 10% of the adult population - by 2030.

Some people may have the misconception that type 2 diabetes is an inconvenience, like back pain or arthritis, but not especially serious. This is not the case.

Type 2 diabetes can lead to blindness (diabetic retinopathy), heart problems and even reduce blood supply to the limbs, which can lead to the affected limb being amputated. People with type 2 diabetes are 15 times more likely to require an amputation than the population at large.

If you are concerned about your weight, it is recommended that you measure you waist size and ask your GP for advice. If necessary, they can arrange testing for the condition. The sooner type 2 diabetes is treated, the less likely it is to cause complications.

The key to reducing the risk of diabetes is losing weight, which can be achieved through a healthy diet and being more active.

The NHS Weight Loss plan can help you achieve both these goals.

Who produced the report?

The report was produced by Public Health England (PHE), a government body set up to protect and improve people's health, and reduce health inequalities. PHE is part of the Department of Health and came into being in April 2013.

What is the aim of the report?

The report draws together a multitude of facts and figures to describe the relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes. Its aim is to support decisions by public health policymakers and practitioners. It points out that, currently, 90% of adults with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese, and that both conditions are on the increase in the UK.

Diabetes

The report explains that diabetes is a condition in which the body does not produce sufficient insulin to regulate blood glucose levels, or where the insulin produced is unable to work effectively. There are two main types of diabetes: 1 and 2.

The report focusses on type 2 diabetes, which accounts for at least 90% of all cases and is easily preventable by making lifestyle changes. It points out that obesity is only associated with type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that has no association with obesity or other lifestyle factors, and is not preventable; people are born with the condition (though symptoms do not usually develop until around puberty).

Link between obesity and diabetes

The report says that being overweight or obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or above, is the main modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes. In England, obese adults are five times more likely to be diagnosed with the condition than adults of a healthy weight, with a greater risk among people who have been obese for longer.

In addition, a recent study found that severely obese people (with a BMI of 40 or above) are at even greater risk compared to obese people with a lower BMI (30.0-39.9).

This, it claims, may have significant implications for the NHS, given the increasing trend of severe obesity in adults.

In particular, a large waist circumference is associated with increased risk of diabetes. Men with a raised waist circumference (greater than 102cm) are five times as likely to have doctor-diagnosed diabetes, compared to those without a raised waist circumference.

Women with a raised waist circumference (greater than 88cm) are more than three times as likely to get the condition.

The precise mechanism for this association remains unclear, says PHE. Some hypotheses include:

Abdominal obesity may cause fat cells to release inflammatory chemicals that disrupt the body's response to insulin. Obesity may trigger changes to the body's metabolism that cause adipose (fat) tissue to release substances involved in the development of insulin resistance.

It is also uncertain why not all people who are obese develop type 2 diabetes, and why not all people with type 2 diabetes are obese.

Prevalence of obesity and diabetes

The report states that in 2012:

an estimated 62% of adults (aged 16 years and over) were overweight or obese in England (with a BMI of 25 or above) 24.7% were obese (with a BMI of 30 or above) 2.4% were severely obese (with a BMI of 40 or above)

The prevalence of obesity has increased sharply since the 1990s, and some forecasts predict that by 2050, obesity will affect 60% of adult men and 50% of adult women.

The rise in obesity has led, and will continue to lead, to a parallel rise in diabetes.

In 2013, 2.7 million - equivalent to 6% of the adult population - had diagnosed diabetes in England, representing an increase of 137,000 people since 2012.

However, when undiagnosed cases are taken into account, it has been estimated that the true prevalence in England is around 3.2 million, or 7.4% of the adult population.

This figure is projected to rise to 4.6 million, or 9.5% of the adult population, by 2030.

Approximately a third of this increase is attributable to obesity, while the rest is due to ageing and the changing ethnic structure of the population.

Other risk factors

Although obesity and being overweight are the major risk factors for type 2 diabetes, other risk factors include:

Increasing age. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that being older than 40, or older than 25 for some black and minority ethnic groups, is an important risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle factors. Both obesity and type 2 diabetes are strongly associated with unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. Ethnicity. All minority ethnic groups (with the exception of Irish) have a higher risk of diagnosed diabetes than the general population. For example, women of Pakistani ethnic origin are five times more likely, and those of Bangladeshi or Caribbean origin three times more likely, to be diagnosed with diabetes compared to women in the general population. Type 2 diabetes also affects people of South Asian, African-Caribbean, Chinese or black African descent up to a decade or more earlier than white Europeans. Deprivation. In England, type 2 diabetes is 40% more common among people in the most deprived quintile (where a sample of the population is divided into fifths), compared with those in the least deprived quintile. People in social class V (unskilled manual) are three-and-a-half times more likely to be ill as a result of diabetic complications than those in social class I (professional), while the short-term mortality risk from type 2 diabetes is higher among those living in more deprived areas in England. Health implications

People with diabetes are at risk of a range of health complications. Uncontrolled diabetes is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), blindness, amputation, kidney disease and depression.

It can also result in lower life expectancy.

Life-long diabetes can also have a profound impact on lifestyle, relationships, work, income, and health and wellbeing.

The report points out that diabetic eye disease is the leading cause of preventable sight loss in people of working age, while up to 100 people a week have a limb amputated in the UK as a result of diabetes.

In England, diabetes is a major cause of mortality, with over 23,000 additional deaths in 2010-11.

Cost

In the UK, it is estimated that overweight, obesity and related illnesses cost the NHS £4.2 billion in 2007, and these costs are predicted to reach £9.7 billion by 2050.

Wider total costs to society (such as loss of productivity) of overweight and obesity are estimated to reach £49.9 billion by 2050. To put that figure in context, that would be enough to pay the annual wages of just under three-and-a-half million newly qualified nurses.

A recent economic study estimated that in 2010-11 the cost of treating type 2 diabetes and its associated complications in the UK was £8.8 billion. The indirect costs (such as loss of productivity due to increased death and illness and the need for informal care) were £13 billion.

What is to be done?

The report itself makes no recommendations for the public, nor does it encourage people to whip out the tape measure, as some newspaper reports have implied.

However, according to a BBC report, PHE's chief nutritional adviser, Dr Alison Tedstone, urged people to 'keep an eye on your waist measurement' as losing weight is 'the biggest thing you can do' to combat the disease.

'People get it wrong, particularly men,' she is reported as saying.

'They measure their waist under their bellies, saying they haven't got fatter because their trouser size is the same, forgetting they're wearing their trousers lower and lower.

'So the tip is to measure across the belly button.'

Read more about how to measure your waist size and why your waist size matters.

Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS Choices. Follow Behind the Headlines on Twitter. Join the Healthy Evidence forum. Entities 0 Name: England Count: 7 1 Name: UK Count: 4 2 Name: NHS Count: 4 3 Name: Public Health England Count: 2 4 Name: Dr Alison Tedstone Count: 1 5 Name: BBC Count: 1 6 Name: PHE Count: 1 7 Name: Bazian Count: 1 8 Name: Caribbean Count: 1 9 Name: South Asian Count: 1 10 Name: Department of Health Count: 1 11 Name: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1tvdFzs Title: 'Tape measure test' call on diabetes Description: People are being urged to whip out the tape measure to assess their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Public Health England said there was a "very high risk" of diabetes with waistlines over 40in (102cm) in men or 35in (88cm) in women.

Gluten

The term 'gluten-free' may lead some consumers to think they are getting an overall healthier option, according to new research conducted by nutrition experts at the University of Florida.

Study author Karla Shelnutt, a UF assistant professor in family, youth and community sciences, says the gluten-free diet is popular with women trying to lose weight, but it might not be their best choice if they don't have celiac disease, which affects just one percent of the population.

Refined gluten-free foods are often not fortified with essential vitamins and minerals, she says, and those for whom a gluten-free diet is necessary are advised to carefully balance their diet or take a vitamin supplement.

'The problem is you have a lot of healthy women who choose a gluten-free diet because they believe it is healthier for them and can help them lose weight and give them healthier skin,' says Shelnutt.

For example, Shelnutt says, these women will start avoiding foods like cereals fortified with folic acid, which is well-known to be essential for women's health.

The 10.5 billion dollar gluten-free food and beverage industry grew 44 percent between 2011 and 2013, according to market research company Mintel, which estimates sales will skyrocket to $15 billion by 2016.

The study was conducted over the course of a day and aimed to assess people's taste for gluten-free foods and their perception of the gluten-free diet by means of taste testing and a questionnaire.

One third of the 97 male and female participants said they believed gluten-free foods were healthier than their conventional counterparts, which surprised Shelnutt and her team, who had expected the figure to be lower.

Nearly 60 percent of participants said they believed a gluten-free diet can treat adverse medical conditions and 35 percent believed gluten-free could ameliorate digestive health.

As far as overall health is concerned, 31 percent of participants believed gluten-free was 'healthier' and 32 percent believed doctors prescribed gluten-free eating for weight loss and felt that gluten-free would improve the diet in general.

According to Shelnutt, eating gluten-free can lead to weight loss because the diet reduces carbohydrate intake, although this can be achieved without adhering to gluten-free labeling.

Shelnutt admits that a participant group of 97 is not large enough to be considered representative of the general public's opinion, but it does provide important insight.

The study was published in the current edition of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

To watch more of Astro's popular programmes and infotainment, use Astro on the Go http://ift.tt/10NJ6pg

Entities 0 Name: Shelnutt Count: 5 1 Name: University of Florida Count: 1 2 Name: Journal of Nutrition Education Count: 1 3 Name: Mintel Count: 1 4 Name: Karla Shelnutt Count: 1 5 Name: UF Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1nIXvPJ Title: What is the alkaline diet? Description: You hear about the alkaline diet a lot - from health coaches, celebrities, and even some doctors will offer information about alkaline foods. So what is an alkaline diet, and is there any evidence that it's helpful? The idea behind an alkaline diet is that you can help your body maintain a healthy blood pH through the food you eat.

Definitions and potential health benefits of the Mediterranean diet: views ...

Content:

Reflections on definitions and health benefits of the Mediterranean diet

Figure 8. Dariush Mozaffarian is Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University. His research focuses on the effects of lifestyle, particularly diet, on cardiometabolic health and disease, on the global impacts of suboptimal nutrition on chronic diseases, and on the effectiveness of policies to improve diet and reduce disease risk. Image credit: Kent Dayton.

An impressive and ever-expanding body of evidence has taught us that overall dietary quality strongly influences health, in particular risk of cardiometabolic diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, and obesity [ 119]. Indeed, suboptimal diet quality is now the leading modifiable cause of death and disability in the world [ 120]. In contrast to the erroneous notions that diet quantity - how much a person eats - or isolated single nutrients are most important, the most relevant characteristics of healthful diets are the overall patterns of foods consumed.

Among various dietary patterns, consistent and compelling evidence indicates that traditional Mediterranean-style diets produce substantial health benefits. Diverse cultures and agricultural patterns exist in the Mediterranean region: there is no one, pure 'Mediterranean diet'. Still, as discussed in the previous sections, traditional Mediterranean diets share fundamental characteristics, which either individually or together have been proven to improve cardiometabolic health. Because of this abundance of beneficial foods, such diets are also naturally lower in harmful foods such as highly processed snacks, cereals, and similar ready-made products; red and processed meats; and other refined grains, starches, and sugars [ 121].

Ecologic comparisons, prospective cohort studies, and randomized trials consistently demonstrate significant beneficial effects of Mediterranean-type diets and their components on cardiometabolic risk factors and disease endpoints [ 15, 119, 121- 123]. The Spanish PREDIMED trial demonstrated a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events by approximately 30% when participants were advised to follow a Mediterranean diet, supplemented with either nuts or extra-virgin olive oil [ 15]. Notably, extra-virgin olive oil largely replaced regular (non-virgin) olive oil, suggesting that the benefits of olive oil may be more closely related to bioactive compounds in extra-virgin oils [ 124] rather than to monounsaturated fats per se. Mediterranean diets also improve glycemic control [ 125] and reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes [ 31]. The key components of Mediterranean diets are also beneficial for weight loss in obese patients [ 126] and for preventing long-term weight gain in non-obese populations [ 127]. Thus, rather than focusing on reductions in total calories or portion sizes, or on increasing or decreasing isolated nutrients, an emphasis on overall diet quality according to types of foods consumed has the strongest evidence-base for reducing adiposity and preventing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The main exceptions to this food-focused approach may be dietary additives such as sodium and trans fat, because very similar foods can be consumed that are either higher or lower in these additives, indicating a separate need to target these nutrients.

How does the Mediterranean diet compare to other healthful diet patterns? One close relative is the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which shares many of the same characteristics. Notably, while the original DASH diet was lower in fat and higher in carbohydrate, controlled clinical trials demonstrate that a higher-fat DASH diet, rich in healthful vegetable oils and nuts, produces even larger cardiometabolic benefits than the original low-fat DASH diet [ 128, 129]. People are also increasingly asking about vegetarian or vegan diets to improve their health. Unfortunately, because such diets are defined only by what is not consumed, the concept provides little accurate guidance for health. For instance, French fries, soda, and ketchup are vegetarian, as are refined grains, sugars, starches, sodium, and industrial trans fat. It is true that people who choose to be vegetarians or vegans are often health-conscious, so that they more often select healthier, minimally processed foods consistent with a Mediterranean diet [ 130]. However, a vegetarian or vegan diet per se - that is, the sole absence of animal products -has little influence on health, as true healthful diets are best defined by what is consumed, while also being characterized by lower consumption of unhealthful foods, many of which are actually 'vegetarian'.

Unfortunately, diets in the Mediterranean region have worsened over time. In Crete, a Mediterranean island with historically low rates of chronic disease, the diets now contain less fruit and olive oil and more meats than diets of earlier generations, with associated population increases in serum cholesterol and adiposity [ 131]. A global dietary Renaissance is required, returning the traditional Mediterranean diet to its primacy in the region and, crucially, incorporating our knowledge of its numerous health benefits to practical, regionally tailored dietary guidance and policies worldwide.

Competing interests

Dr. Mozaffarian reports ad hoc honoraria from Bunge, Pollock Institute, and Quaker Oats; ad hoc consulting for Foodminds, Nutrition Impact, Amarin, Astra Zeneca, and Life Sciences Research Organization; membership, Unilever North America Scientific Advisory Board; and royalties for a chapter on fish oil from UpToDate.

Mediterranean diet: from tradition and empiric description to modern science

Figure 9. Michel de Lorgeril is a cardiologist and nutritionist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the School of Medicine at Grenoble University, France. In the 1990s he proposed a theory to explain the French paradox (low mortality rate from cardiac disease in France compared with UK and USA despite similar risk profiles), and his research group demonstrated that the plant omega-3 fatty acid (alpha-linolenic acid) is cardioprotective. Michel de Lorgeril was the principal investigator on the landmark Lyon Diet Heart Study, the first clinical trial to demonstrate the beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet in the prevention of ischemic heart disease.

The term ' Mediterranean diet' usually describes the dietary habits of populations living near the Mediterranean Sea [ 27]. The definition of the Mediterranean diet varies with geography, historical time and the nationality of the authors. In reality, the traditional dietary habits of the Greeks in 1950 were neither those of the Italians at that time, nor those of the Spaniards or Lebanese in 2014, although all of them do live on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. These differences mainly explain the controversy about the definition of the Mediterranean diet.

After years of biological and medical research [ 27], it is definitely possible to look at the Mediterranean diet as a robust and complex scientific concept. It can be used by any practitioner, provided it is adapted to each specific geographic area and population, and called the modernized Mediterranean diet [ 27]. The next paragraphs will try to explain the shift from the empiric description of the traditional dietary habits of various Mediterranean populations to modern scientific medicine.

One good example is the dietary fat issue. It cannot be summarized with a single statement about olive oil. Briefly, Mediterranean people use several types of fats, from both plant and animal (including marine) sources. Many different fatty acids make up these fats. As shown in Table 2, comparing the modernized Mediterranean diet with a Western-type diet - grossly defined as the dietary habits of the US and North European (Finland, the Netherlands) populations investigated in the Seven Countries Study [ 3] -, it is important to differentiate oleic acid (the main monounsaturated fatty acid) provided by olive oil and the same chemical provided by animal fat. Oleic acid is indeed one of the main fatty acids of beef and pork fat. When the relations between the intake of oleic acid and any health item are analyzed within a Western cohort, investigators mainly analyze the relations with beef and pork consumption. When they do the same within a Mediterranean cohort, they analyze the relations with olive oil and the results are totally different. This may explain why certain (Western) experts refuse to acknowledge any health benefit from consuming olive oil, as if olive oil and oleic acid are the same things.

Table 2. Dietary fats in the modernized Mediterranean diet compared with a Western-type diet

On the other hand, while the modernized Mediterranean diet is not a vegetarian diet, it is definitely a plant-based diet. It is, therefore, crucial to identify the main sources of the essential omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Since olive oil is poor in both omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, what are the true sources of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in either the traditional or the modernized Mediterranean diet? Along the same line, it is crucial to differentiate the main sources of the specific omega-3 fatty acids - those provided by plants and those provided by marine or terrestrial animals - and also the main sources of omega-6 fatty acids from either plants or animals (Table 2).

Finally, in the contemporary world where industrial foods are consumed by more and more people, it would be a mistake to still think that most saturated fats come from animal foods. Actually, saturated fatty acids also come from plants, such as the palm oil and cocoa butter incorporated in industrial foods. In the same way, it is essential to differentiate the (toxic) trans fatty acids produced by the industrial hydrogenation process and the (healthy) trans fatty acids naturally produced by ruminants and found in the dairy products typical of the Mediterranean diet.

All of these fat items, as well as other dietary items, illustrate how the empirical description of the traditional Mediterranean diet has become a modern scientific concept [ 27]. This is important to understand in order to design the optimal nutrition strategy to prevent disease. For instance, when testing the effects of the Mediterranean diet against cardiovascular complications in a controlled trial among French patients whose dietary habits were very different from the traditional Mediterranean diet, we were able to reproduce the main dietary aspects of the Mediterranean diet as regards fat (Table 2), without exclusively using olive oil [ 16, 39]. By advising our patients to use canola oil and canola oil-based margarine, plus some other Mediterranean foods - including olive oil, fatty fish, and nuts - we did reproduce the blood fatty acid profile characteristic of Mediterranean populations, with the appropriate omega-3/omega-6 ratio [ 132]. This may, at least in part, explain the impressive protection observed in the Lyon Diet Heart Study [ 16, 39], which was recently confirmed in the PREDIMED trial [ 15].

Thus, future trials testing the effects of a modern version of the Mediterranean diet in various clinical contexts (prevention of cancer or Alzheimer-type dementia) or future epidemiological studies should include that new knowledge in their protocols and designs. As an example, it will be important to differentiate the different essential (both omega-3 and omega-6) polyunsaturated fatty acids and also their food sources, animal versus plant (Table 2).

Finally, it is noteworthy that wheat, both whole and refined, is a major ingredient of the Mediterranean diet, mainly under the form of bread, but also of other typical Mediterranean diet foods, such as pasta and couscous [ 27, 133]. The physicians and nutritionists who are aware of the basic principles of the modernized Mediterranean diet recommend eating complex carbohydrates and whole grains, in particular bread and other wheat-based foods. However, the last decades have seen great changes in the prevalence and clinical presentation of two diseases linked to wheat: the celiac gluten-induced enteropathy and non-celiac gluten sensitivity [ 134, 135]. These changes have taken place as new wheat hybrids were introduced into human foods [ 134]. This is definitely a critical medical and environmental issue, which needs to be appropriately managed by physicians when their patients report new gastrointestinal or non-gastrointestinal symptoms after adhering to the modernized Mediterranean diet. The worst thing to do would be to deny the reality of these symptoms. There are alternatives to gluten-rich grains, and physicians and nutritionists should be careful to select such alternatives so as to respect the basic principles of the modernized Mediterranean diet. Thus, the gluten/wheat issue illustrates how a dietary pattern is not a static thing, but rather an ongoing change

In summary, even if wheat bread and olive oil are the very symbols of the traditional Mediterranean diet, a modernized Mediterranean diet concept makes it possible to obtain all the health benefits of typically Mediterranean dietary habits without olive oil or wheat bread. In other words, the modernized Mediterranean diet concept opens the way to a scientifically-founded protective dietary pattern which could be independent from the Mediterranean geography, climate and cultures. Future research - for instance when constructing a modern Mediterranean diet score in observational epidemiologic study - will have to integrate that new knowledge [ 134, 135].

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no competing interests.

References (Omitted)

This is the second part of the article.

The information on the authors and the article is as follows

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Author Affiliations

BMC Medicine 2014, 12:112 doi:10.1186/1741-7015-12-112

All correspondence should be made to the journal editorial office: bmcmedicineeditorial@biomedcentral.com

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://ift.tt/1zyC0F8

© 2014 Trichopoulou et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://ift.tt/1eRPUFd), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://ift.tt/jZBIPz) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

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Take a bite: Are processed foods a vital part of your diet?

We've all heard the healthy eating advice: Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, avoid eating processed foods. Only buy foods with ingredients you can pronounce.

So would it surprise you to read that the American Society for Nutrition considers processed foods a vital part of the American diet?

In a new paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the Society argues that processed foods contribute to the health of the U.S. population:

'We conclude that processed foods are nutritionally important to American diets. They contribute to both food security (ensuring that sufficient food is available) and nutrition security (ensuring that food quality meets human nutrient needs.)'

Critics jumped on the paper for lumping everything from roasted nuts and hummus to Lucky Charms and Cheez-Its when discussing processed foods. The authors do point out that diets rich in nutrient-dense foods - whether processed or not - are more likely to meet nutrition guidelines:

'... although food processing has had positive impacts on human health, some of those successes have produced foods that, when consumed inappropriately or at inordinately high proportions of a total diet, are deleterious to health.'

Controversial

As KPCC community health reporter Adrian Florido reports today, this paper has proved hugely controversial. Nutrition experts - including Dr. David Katz - director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University - say focusing on delivering better nutrition through processed foods is a mistake.

Katz told Florido that while process foods are a significant part of Americans' diet:

'... to say that getting nutrients from processed foods is a good thing and should continue ignores the fact that we could be getting those same nutrients from less processed foods and deriving better nutrition overall.'

Florido also reports that Katz and others have concerns about the authors' potential conflicts of interest. The paper's lead author, and several co-authors, are either advisers to, have received funding from, or own stock in major food industry companies, including Nestle, Con Agra and Hershey.

Katz said:

'The concern here is that this may be more about defense of the status quo, than addressing fundamental problems with the American food supply and the typical American diet.'

Response

Dr. Connie Weaver of Purdue University, the paper's lead author, said the paper is intended to spark a discussion among nutrients about the definition of processed foods. She also said she's promoting advances and refinements in food processing techniques, because a food's nutrient content is more important than whether it's fresh.

She told Florido:

'Processing is just not that relevant to the nutrient contribution, which is the bottom line of this paper.'

Weaver said the authors' relationships with the food industry did not influence the paper's conclusions.

Your turn

We want to hear from you. How prevalent are processed foods in your daily diet? Do you agree that a food's nutrient content is more important than whether it's fresh? Which healthy-eating rules do you follow?

Tell us about it in the comments section below, or e-mail us at Impatient@scpr.org.

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Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin make 'fattest' chain restaurant meal list

The Cheesecake Factory

5 minutes ago

Pro tip: If you're watching your waistline, avoid ordering anything with 'monster,' 'bottomless' or 'big' in its name.

Red Robin's 'monster' meal was named the single unhealthiest meal of 2014 in the Center for Science in the Public Interest's 'Xtreme Eating Awards.' It includes a 'monster-sized' A.1. peppercorn burger, bottomless steak fries and a 'monster' salted caramel milkshake - and 3,540 calories.

Perhaps more surprising was a Cheesecake Factory meal that CSPI singled out as a top offender: Bruléed French Toast. It's custard-soaked bread topped with powdered sugar and served with maple-butter syrup and bacon, clocking in at 2,780 calories and with 93 grams of saturated fat (five days' worth), 2,230 milligrams of sodium (more than a day's worth) and 24 teaspoons of sugar (almost three days' worth).

To put that in context, CSPI says you would need to swim laps for seven hours to burn it off. That monster meal from Red Robin? A brisk walk for 12 hours.

'We are all notoriously bad at estimating calories. These eye-popping numbers seem 'wrong' - but it's a strong wake up call,' says TODAY Diet and Nutrition Editor Madelyn Fernstrom. 'Including calorie counts is really important... Many of the chains already have calorie counts for the lower calorie options, so the information on high calorie options provides the consumer with the other end of the calorie equation.'

Other dishes to 'win' the dubious award were two others from The Cheesecake Factory: Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic (2,410 calories) and Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake (1,500 calories.)

The Cheesecake Factory told TODAY that with more than 200 items on its menu, the restaurant 'has always been about choices.'

'Many of our guests come in and want to celebrate and not be concerned with calories. Others want to share their dish - and we love it when our guests share - that's a great sign that our portions are generous - and a large percentage of our guests take home leftovers for lunch the next day,' spokeswoman Alethea Rowe said in a statement.

She added the chain's 'SkinnyLicious' menu has more than 50 choices under 590 calories.

Fernstrom agrees that smart choices make a difference and has these tips for eating well when eating out:

Just because the entree sounds like it's for one person, the giant plate size alone should tip you off. Split the entree with someone to automatically cut the calories in half. Choose an appetizer size as an entree. In years past, this portion was an entree! Supersizing has become so routine that healthy portion sizes look skimpy. Skip over the word 'bottomless' when it comes to fries, soda, or other calorie-loaded foods. Ignore the hidden 'perceived extra value' of this offer. Skip the shake for a diet soda or water with lemon. Cut out a high calorie side and choose a salad with balsamic vinegar on the side. As for the 1,500 calorie slice of cheesecake? No need for deprivation! Order one slice for your table of 6 and be a taster! Studies show the first bite or two is the most satisfying. So enjoy, in moderation.

Two other 'Big' offenders according to the CSPI: 'The Big Slab' of St. Louis-Style Spareribs at Famous Dave's with fries, beans and a corn bread muffin clocked in at 2,700 calories with 54 grams of saturated fat. And Joe's Crab Shack was named for 'The Big 'Hook' Up,' something the CSPI called a 'friedfoodganza' of seafood crab balls with cream cheese, served with ranch dressing, fish and chips, coconut shrimp, crab-stuffed shrimp, hushpuppies and coleslaw. The entire meal has 3,280 calories.

'When French toast is 'Bruleed,' fries are 'bottomless' and steaks are now garnished with not just one but two Italian sausages, it's clear that caloric extremism still rules the roost at many of America's chain restaurants,' said CSPI dietitian Paige Einstein.

Entities 0 Name: CSPI Count: 5 1 Name: Red Robin Count: 2 2 Name: Center for Science Count: 1 3 Name: Alethea Rowe Count: 1 4 Name: Paige Einstein Count: 1 5 Name: Madelyn Fernstrom Count: 1 6 Name: Public Interest Count: 1 7 Name: Dave Count: 1 8 Name: Reese Count: 1 9 Name: St. Louis-Style Spareribs Count: 1 10 Name: America Count: 1 11 Name: Fernstrom Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1xymSV8 Title: 2014's most Description: Maybe the name "monster" should be a clue. If not, the nutrition watchdogs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest have news for you: A "Monster" double burger, served with "bottomless" fries and a "Monster" milk shake at the Red Robin burger chain is not very good for you at all.

Miami Dolphins Releases Official Meal Planner

BOCA RATON, Fla., July 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ Fresh Meal Plan, Florida's fastest growing at-home meal delivery company, is lifting the veil on what NFL players really eat. In this case, the Miami Dolphins menu is in the spotlight, as the team's first scrimmage is scheduled for August 3rd and Fresh Meal Plan (FMP), the team's official meal plan provider, is assisting them in getting physically primed to play the season - Paleo style.

'At any given home game, we cumulatively feed the Miami Dolphins and their coaching staff a hefty 90 lbs. of grass fed bison, 60 lbs. of chicken, 80 lbs. of sweet potatoes, 60 lbs. of fresh spinach, and 40 lbs. of fresh broccoli,' says Fresh Meal Plan CEO, Marc Elkman . 'A tall order, but nothing our kitchen can't handle,' he says, 'especially when you take into consideration that we've been producing the team's meals in and out-of-season for three years now, and all the while still servicing our 2,250 non-NFL clients each day.'

Knowing that eating a nutritionally sound diet can add years to an athletes' career, the company's goal is to keep each Dolphin properly fueled both pregame and post-game, and #91, Cameron Wake, Three-time All Pro and a Dolphin's DE, couldn't agree more.

'NFL players can suffer multiple physical injuries throughout a season, so we have to stay as flexible and conditioned as possible,' says Wake. 'Eating right - before and after each game - is just as paramount to our health as our daily workouts are.'

So what else does a Dolphin eat besides pounds and pounds of meat, poultry and salad? Paleo Coconut Cakes, of course. 'Yes, even tough athletes can appreciate a delectable dessert,' quips Cameron.

For more information on Fresh Meal Plan and their offerings, visit them online at http://ift.tt/1imgH0R. To schedule an interview with CEO, Mark Elkman, or Executive Chef, Patrick Delaney, contact the Media Representative below.

About Fresh Meal Plan

Founded in 2011, Fresh Meal Plan is Florida's fastest growing home meal delivery program that hand-delivers freshly prepared meals to its clients' doorsteps two to three times per week. Serving Traditional, Paleo and Vegetarian choice plans, each meal typically contains between 350-450 calories. Fresh' dishes are never frozen, canned or packaged, and contain no additives or preservatives. Currently available in South Florida and Orlando, Fresh Meal Plan will be debuting delivery to the Tampa / St. Petersburg market in the summer of2014, with the long-term goal of servicing the greater New York City area by Spring of 2015. For more information on Fresh Meal Plan, or its founders Marc Elkman and Patrick Delaney, please visit http://ift.tt/1imgH0R.

SOURCE Fresh Meal Plan

Entities 0 Name: Miami Dolphins Count: 2 1 Name: Patrick Delaney Count: 2 2 Name: Marc Elkman Count: 2 3 Name: Dolphin Count: 2 4 Name: Florida Count: 2 5 Name: Paleo Count: 2 6 Name: South Florida Count: 1 7 Name: NFL Count: 1 8 Name: Cameron Wake Count: 1 9 Name: Wake Count: 1 10 Name: New York City Count: 1 11 Name: Cameron Count: 1 12 Name: Mark Elkman Count: 1 13 Name: Fla. Count: 1 14 Name: Tampa Count: 1 15 Name: Orlando Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1jFWrMn Title: The Importance of Eating Together Description: After my mother passed away and my brother went to study in New Zealand, the first thing that really felt different was the dinner table. My father and I began eating separately. We went out to dinners with our friends, ate sandwiches in front of our computers, delivery pizzas while watching movies.

Megan Fox's Weight Loss Aided by Low Carb Paleo Diet: Benefits of the Diet

Megan Fox credits her stunning post birth weight loss to the Paleo diet. After the birth of her second son, the actress had gained weight, which she stated that a low carb, sugar free Paleo diet helped her to lose just five months after her son's birth.

REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON Presenter Megan Fox poses backstage at the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, January 13, 2013.

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The diet prescribes high-quality animal proteins, healthy fats, vegetables and fruits, and excludes gluten, sugar, dairy, legumes, starches, alcohol and processed foods. Megan stated, 'I've had to eliminate bread from my diet, so I'm on that high-protein, very low-carbohydrate, very low-sugar diet. It's kind of awful.'

She even succeeded in shedding her post pregnancy weight after her first son's birth. In 2012 she gained 23 pounds that she lost rapidly by following the Paleo diet.

Megan has been working out as well. Fox's trainer, Harley Pasternak stated that Megan's workouts during her pregnancy helped her speedy post-baby weight loss. 'We worked out throughout her entire pregnancy. She was a model of health through the whole process,' Pasternak said. Her workouts included cardio exercises, stretching and strength training.

A recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed that the Paleo diet is extremely beneficial for weight loss, it being two times more effective as other diets for promoting weight loss. As a part of the study, 70 obese, post menstrual women were followed for two years. A few were given the low-fat diet to follow, while the others were assigned a low-carb Paleo diet.

The participants' weight, cholesterol and blood sugars were checked six months after the study commenced. They were measured again, two years later. The results revealed that those following the Paleo diet lost more than twice the amount of weight compared to the weight lost by those who followed the low fat diet. The Paleo dieters lost 14 pounds while the low-fat dieters lost 5.7 pounds.

The benefits of the Paleo diet is much more than just weight loss; it is seen to reduce belly fat, cholesterol, reduces hormone surges and controls diabetes as well. The low-carb, high-fat Paleo dieters' waist reduced by four inches in just six months and the low fat dieters lost just two inches in the same amount of time.

The diet has been followed by so many because older women, especially those who are in their post menstrual phase find it extremely hard to lose weight due to slower metabolism and hormone disruptions. Studies and researches have testified the benefits of the Paleo diet, owing to this and the live testimonies of several people many men and women have taken to the diet, celebrities are no exception either.

The Paleo diet has a huge celebrity fan following, Tim McGraw, Jessica Biel, Kellan Lutz, supermodel Adriana Lima and , Matthew McConaughey are a few to mention.

To contact the editor, e-mail:

This article is copyrighted by IBTimes.com.au, the business news leader

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Porter Health Care System Presents Healthy Heart Diet Classes for August

Porter Health Care System will present Healthy Heart Diet classes in August. The free classes will provide an understanding on how to read food labels and choose heart-healthy food, along with teaching basic heart healthy food preparation tips.

Classes will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, August 5 and 19 and from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, August 7 in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Room on the second floor of Porter Regional Hospital, 85 East US Highway 6 in Valparaiso.

Porter's Healthy Heart Diet classes are free and pre-registration is required. To register, call 219-983-8874.

Porter Health Care System has two hospital campuses and seven outpatient facilities serving Porter, Lake, LaPorte, Starke, Newton, Marshall and Jasper counties. With more than 350 physicians representing 50 medical specialties on the medical staff, Porter Health Care System is committed to medical excellence and personalized, patient-centered care.

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Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin make 'fattest' chain restaurant meal list

The Cheesecake Factory

5 minutes ago

Pro tip: If you're watching your waistline, avoid ordering anything with 'monster,' 'bottomless' or 'big' in its name.

Red Robin's 'monster' meal was named the single unhealthiest meal of 2014 in the Center for Science in the Public Interest's 'Xtreme Eating Awards.' It includes a 'monster-sized' A.1. peppercorn burger, bottomless steak fries and a 'monster' salted caramel milkshake - and 3,540 calories.

Perhaps more surprising was a Cheesecake Factory meal that CSPI singled out as a top offender: Bruléed French Toast. It's custard-soaked bread topped with powdered sugar and served with maple-butter syrup and bacon, clocking in at 2,780 calories and with 93 grams of saturated fat (five days' worth), 2,230 milligrams of sodium (more than a day's worth) and 24 teaspoons of sugar (almost three days' worth).

To put that in context, CSPI says you would need to swim laps for seven hours to burn it off. That monster meal from Red Robin? A brisk walk for 12 hours.

'We are all notoriously bad at estimating calories. These eye-popping numbers seem 'wrong' - but it's a strong wake up call,' says TODAY Diet and Nutrition Editor Madelyn Fernstrom. 'Including calorie counts is really important... Many of the chains already have calorie counts for the lower calorie options, so the information on high calorie options provides the consumer with the other end of the calorie equation.'

Other dishes to 'win' the dubious award were two others from The Cheesecake Factory: Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic (2,410 calories) and Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake (1,500 calories.)

The Cheesecake Factory told TODAY that with more than 200 items on its menu, the restaurant 'has always been about choices.'

'Many of our guests come in and want to celebrate and not be concerned with calories. Others want to share their dish - and we love it when our guests share - that's a great sign that our portions are generous - and a large percentage of our guests take home leftovers for lunch the next day,' spokeswoman Alethea Rowe said in a statement.

She added the chain's 'SkinnyLicious' menu has more than 50 choices under 590 calories.

Fernstrom agrees that smart choices make a difference and has these tips for eating well when eating out:

Just because the entree sounds like it's for one person, the giant plate size alone should tip you off. Split the entree with someone to automatically cut the calories in half. Choose an appetizer size as an entree. In years past, this portion was an entree! Supersizing has become so routine that healthy portion sizes look skimpy. Skip over the word 'bottomless' when it comes to fries, soda, or other calorie-loaded foods. Ignore the hidden 'perceived extra value' of this offer. Skip the shake for a diet soda or water with lemon. Cut out a high calorie side and choose a salad with balsamic vinegar on the side. As for the 1,500 calorie slice of cheesecake? No need for deprivation! Order one slice for your table of 6 and be a taster! Studies show the first bite or two is the most satisfying. So enjoy, in moderation.

Two other 'Big' offenders according to the CSPI: 'The Big Slab' of St. Louis-Style Spareribs at Famous Dave's with fries, beans and a corn bread muffin clocked in at 2,700 calories with 54 grams of saturated fat. And Joe's Crab Shack was named for 'The Big 'Hook' Up,' something the CSPI called a 'friedfoodganza' of seafood crab balls with cream cheese, served with ranch dressing, fish and chips, coconut shrimp, crab-stuffed shrimp, hushpuppies and coleslaw. The entire meal has 3,280 calories.

'When French toast is 'Bruleed,' fries are 'bottomless' and steaks are now garnished with not just one but two Italian sausages, it's clear that caloric extremism still rules the roost at many of America's chain restaurants,' said CSPI dietitian Paige Einstein.

Entities 0 Name: CSPI Count: 5 1 Name: Red Robin Count: 2 2 Name: Center for Science Count: 1 3 Name: Alethea Rowe Count: 1 4 Name: Paige Einstein Count: 1 5 Name: Madelyn Fernstrom Count: 1 6 Name: Public Interest Count: 1 7 Name: Dave Count: 1 8 Name: Reese Count: 1 9 Name: St. Louis-Style Spareribs Count: 1 10 Name: America Count: 1 11 Name: Fernstrom Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1xymSV8 Title: 2014's most Description: Maybe the name "monster" should be a clue. If not, the nutrition watchdogs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest have news for you: A "Monster" double burger, served with "bottomless" fries and a "Monster" milk shake at the Red Robin burger chain is not very good for you at all.

The Affordable Care Act and Medicaid Expansion: Giving More People a Chance

Christen Linke Young, Bess Evans July 30, 2014 11:37 AM EDT

On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed both Medicare and Medicaid into law. Over the past 49 years, Medicare has provided comprehensive coverage to millions of seniors and people with disabilities, while Medicaid has provided coverage for millions of the most vulnerable Americans: low-income parents, children, and those with disabilities.

Because of the Affordable Care Act, states are expanding their Medicaid programs to cover more Americans, and today, Medicaid covers over 66 million Americans.

Bill Sheshko, a 55-year-old self-employed man from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, experienced the benefits of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion first hand. He'd been without health insurance for years, but with the Affordable Care Act, and because his state decided to expand Medicaid, he finally became eligible for Medicaid.

A few months ago, Bill began having difficulty breathing and noticed his legs and feet starting to swell. Because of his new coverage, Bill was able to make an appointment with his doctor and was subsequently diagnosed with congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. After a few scary days in the hospital, he is now home and working with his doctors to control his conditions with medication and diet. In a letter to the President, Bill wrote about the true meaning of his health coverage: 'At least now I have a chance, all because of you.'

Like Mr. Sheshko, 34-year-old California native Anna Smith was given a chance, in her case after a traumatic accident. When she was 21 years old, Anna Smith fell out of a tree at a church picnic and fractured one of the vertebrae in her spine. She was instantly paralyzed, preventing her from walking or feeling her legs. Medical care suddenly became essential to her life. Because of her condition, she became one of over 3.7 million disabled Americans covered under both Medicare and Medicaid.

Over the past 13 years since her accident, Medicare and Medicaid have helped Anna adjust to her new life and made it possible for her to pursue a master's degree in social work. Anna wrote to President Obama to express her gratitude for the federal government's Medicaid and Medicare programs: 'I have been able to receive quality medical care without having to decide whether to pay a prescription copay or my electric bill.'

No one should have to make the choice between their health and paying the bills. There are millions of hardworking Americans across the country like Bill and Anna who rely on Medicaid and Medicare to get the health coverage they deserve. As Bill wrote in his letter to the President, 'I think people have the wrong idea of what Medicaid is. I was doing good, and then the economic downturn happened, and suddenly I wasn't doing so good.'

Forty-nine years ago, our country made a promise to older, disabled, and low-income Americans that they would have the medical care they need to live happier and healthier lives. Today, because of Medicare and Medicaid, millions of Americans are provided the same chance that Bill and Anna had. Millions more would benefit if all states expanded Medicaid under the health care law.

In speaking for millions of Americans across the country, Bill wrote to President Obama, 'If this happened only 10 months ago I might be dead, or losing the house in which I was born and inherited from my parents. You have changed America, Mr. President. You saved my life and I will be forever grateful.'

See photos from the signing of the Social Security Amendments in 1965, which established Medicare and Medicaid:

Christen Linke Young is the Senior Policy Advisor for Health in the Domestic Policy Council. Bess Evans is the Associate Director in the Office of Public Engagement.

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