It is lunchtime at a food hall in a shopping centre in Sydney and I am looking around at teenagers, parents, kids, standing in line to order cheeseburgers piled high with chips, pizzas overloaded with cheese, buckets of soft drink and oversize juices and ice-creams. Many of these people are bursting at the seams – plump, chubby, or grossly fat!
Look at the portion sizes!
The typical Australian is overloaded with calories, but falls short of essential vitamins and minerals. Australians are fat (and getting fatter) not just because they are eating too much, but because they are eating too little of nutrients dense foods. How does the brain know when we have had enough to eat? Calories and exercise (energy expenditure) play a role – but there is more to it than that. The body requires at least 40 vitamins and minerals which the body can only get by us consuming them. If you eat a meal that does not give your body the nutrients it needs, does your brain signal to go on eating until you get them? The question of satiety (being satisfied) is a problematic question. Many people eat just because the food is available and do not listen to the natural cues the body tells us – we often stuff ourselves until we feel bloated and over fed.
A study was done where 15000 people were asked about there diets, supplement use, and weight changes between 45 and 55. The interest was whether herbal supplements sold as weight loss formulas actually helped people lose weight. Herbs did not help.
Chromium has often been given as a supplement to remove sugar cravings. Chromium is involved in controlling blood sugar levels, which in turn affect feelings of hunger and satiety. However, no evidence demonstrates taking Chromium as a supplement helps weight loss or stops sugar cravings.
Iron deficiency makes it more difficult to lose weight. Perhaps this is because you do not have the energy to exercise as normal, or the resultant depression can cause overeating? The same is true of zinc. A zinc deficiency is known to suppress appetite… People who are short of zinc lose muscle tissue which in itself can slow metabolism. So theoretically if people deficient in zinc raise their intake with the correct foods, they could increase their muscle mass – and start burning calories faster.
Calcium plays a direct role in whether the body burns fat or stores it. Michael Zemel, a professor of nutrition and medicine at the University of Tennessee, stumbled on the connection by accident. He found volunteers who followed an eating plan that included two servings of yoghurt a day lost 5 kg of body fat over the course of a year-long trial, even though they did not cut back on calories. In a 2004 study, Zemel showed that obese subjects on a reduced-calorie diet lost 5.4% of their body weight over 24 weeks. Numerous studies have shown that people who report eating plenty of dairy-rich products are more likely to maintain a healthy weight than people who don’t.
Calcium seems to promote weight loss in several ways:
· It burns fat by producing heat – thermogenesis.
· Helps shift energy stored in fat cells to working muscles.
· Calcium helps get rid of old fat cells which is particularly important for people who lose weight.
Diets short on calcium make it extremely difficult to lose weight. It is necessary to have 2-3 serves of calcium a day, and sufficient Vitamin D to assist the absorption.
Do not depend on pills alone to get your vitamins and minerals – food is still the best source. Zemel has found that people who get the calcium from food in the form of dairy products lose more weight and shed more body fat than those who rely on calcium supplements. It is almost impossible to overdose when it comes to food. Overdosing (particularly iron, fat soluble vitamins and zinc) can be a concern.
The best source of vitamins and minerals are vegetables, salads, fruit, legumes, whole grains – most of which are rich in fibre making your meals more filling and therefore playing a role in helping you eat less and lose weight.
Evidence shows that choosing foods that pack most nutrition per calorie could help many people slim down. A study at Pennsylvania State University found that people who favoured nutrient-dense foods (whole-grain cereals, dark green and yellow vegetables, fruit, milk, fish, lean meat, and legumes) consumed fewer calories and were half as likely to be overweight or obese as people filling up on less nourishing foods.
Dining in the food malls in Australia we are fortunate to have a variety of nutritious foods to choose from – sandwiches packed with salad, stir fries, sushi, grilled chicken, fruit salad and yoghurt to name a few. However, you do have to be concerned with portion sizes. Make one meal last for two meals – or better still, share the meal with a friend!