Sleep And Weight Loss- Not Enough Sleep Makes You Gain Weight

In this day and age, not sleeping is seen not only as an admirable trait but as a noble requirement for anyone aspiring towards any degree of financial success. Compared to years past Americans sleep far less than they ever did with twenty percent of the population reportedly getting less than six hours of sleep a night. That’s one in five in the realm of being chronically sleep deprived while the rest of the nation isn’t doing that much better with the number of people reportedly getting less than eight hours of sleep increasing drastically as the years go by. Contrast this with a century ago when the US national average was around 9-10 hours of sleep per night! A dream for most by today’s standards (pardon the pun) as that is far beyond what any average member of the society gets today.  This overall reduction in sleep time unfortunately applies not only to adults, but to children as well.  There are so many more stimuli in our lives that stealthily rob us of our precious time in bed. Television and the internet play a major role in making both children and adult lives stay up longer but our increased work times are also significant. In a sense we have sacrificed sleep for increased productivity. Working more and becoming a nation of robot like machines fueled by coffee and the caffeinated energy drink of the day. What is overlooked in this equation is the effect of sleep deprivation not only on our overall health but as a contributing factor to the increased numbers of overweight American adults and children. Numerous studies have found that not enough sleep can make you gain weight and experience has shown that it can also seriously sabotage your weight loss efforts!

Second only to casual alcohol consumption, the common denominator among my clients who had difficulty losing weight over the past twenty years has been sleep deprivation. Not only was lack of sleep a physiological barrier to them losing weight as easily as others who were eating well and sleeping normally, but it also appeared to be a behavioral obstacle- as those who stayed up longer tended to consume more calories and were more likely to eat more junk food at the end of the day. It is very much a vicious cycle as eating significant amounts of food late at night makes it physically harder for you to fall asleep, affects your sleep quality and reduces how long you can stay asleep.[1] (See our article on Night Eating Syndrome)  In this article we will take a look at the insidious role of sleep deprivation in making us fatter and how the very demands of the modern workplace may be working against your health and your waistline.

Most are sleep deprived during the week and then try to make up for it on weekends- which only makes it easier for you to gain weight.

When sleep deprivation studies on laboratory animals were first carried out researchers confirmed what most of us would think to be true – namely that sleep deprived animals would suffer a decrease in overall body weight over time.2, 3. However numerous epidemiological studies with humans show quite the opposite effect- that humans tend to gain weight as a result of sleep deprivation.[3,4,5,6,7] A explanation of this phenomenon may come as a consequence of human sleep deprivation in the real world occurring because of alterations between periods of restricted sleep followed by periods of increased sleep. A chronic pattern that mirrors our five day work week during which most sleep far less than optimal times followed by weekends where many attempt to make up for sleep lost during the week. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands set out to model human conditions of chronic sleep restriction by having male rats endure 5 day periods of sleep deprivation followed by a 2 day period of sleep allowance. There was also a control group of rats who were consistently sleep deprived. In the first few weeks there was some loss of body mass in the sleep deprived rats, but in the following weeks there were two incredibly important changes that were observed:

The first was a significant increase in food intake on days that the rats were sleep deprived.

The second finding was an increase in weight gain during the weekends where the rats were allowed to sleep for regular periods of time.

What is fascinating about the weight gain is that the food intake during those days was not notably different from the food intakes of the sleep deprived rats in the control group who lost weight during the period eating the same amount of food.[3]

Sleep Deprivation and Hormones- How Lack Of Sleep Affect Hormones That Make Us Gain Weight

There is without question no shortage of well controlled studies of both humans and animals that underline the fact that the chronic partial sleep loss that has become the benchmark of our times may increase your risk of obesity. Research has shown that there are marked changes in metabolism and endocrine function as a result of sleep deprivation in both adults and children.[4,7]

Sleep restriction plays a major role in affecting us hormonally, namely by:

1. Decreasing glucose tolerance- which not only can lead to weight gain but an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease [8]
2. Increasing insulin sensitivity- insulin resistance is a precondition to diabetes and is recognized as a contributing factor to obesity and weight gain. Interestingly enough, caffeine used to offset the effects of inadequate sleep also plays a role in increasing insulin resistance as well.[9, 10,11,12]
3. Increased concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol later in the day- which can work to suppress your immune system and increase susceptibility to disease.[13,14] Note however that there is no science to support the popular theory that cortisol causes weight gain- as this is simply another form of misinformation used to sell weight loss products of questionable efficacy.
4. Increased levels of ghrelin- Ghrelin is an important hormone that stimulates our appetite and desire to eat[15] which can in turn lead to overeating and consequent weight gain when concentrations are high.[16] (See my article on how ghrelin affects our appetite here)
5. Decreased levels of leptin- acting contrary to the effects of ghrelin, leptin serves to inhibit our appetite and tell us when we should stop eating.[17] (See my article on the role of leptin in weight gain here)

Fighting Back- Increasing Quantity & Quality of Sleep As An Aid to Weight Loss

You can't drink coffee if you have limited sleep time and want to make the most of it.

Taken as a whole, chronic sleep deprivations creates a perfect storm of hormonal reactions that all contribute to increasing your risk of obesity and making it much harder for you to lose weight and keep it off. As such more and more clinicians are recommending increased sleep time as an intervention to help prevent the onset of obesity and the syndrome of life shortening disease that accompany it. In my practice, individuals with jobs where their working hours were constantly changing always had the lowest amount of weight loss compared to regular sleepers, followed closely as mentioned before by those who slept less than six hours during the work week. It might seem to be a hopeless proposition given the increased number of work hours that our lives today often demand, but it isn’t impossible to get a decent number of hours of sleep if you follow these key rules that I have used quite successfully with my clients over the years.

Strategies for Sleeping Better

1. Restrict internet and television time after 9 pm. Most of us use both television or internet surfing as a way to unwind after a long day- but that very action can do more to rob us of valuable sleep time than help us truly relax. If you don’t have that much time to sleep then read a book to help you catch your breath and relax after work. You won’t be as stimulated and it will be less likely to keep you up.
2. Don’t drink caffeinated drinks. It is better to be sleepy all day and sleep well at night than alert all day and too wired to get decent sleep time at the end of the day. Coffee, energy drinks like Red Bull, and fat burners have no place in the lives of anyone with difficulty sleeping or who has limited time available for sleep. Not only will such drinks interfere with your ability to sleep but with your sleep quality as well. The same applies to alcohol as well- don’t drink it to help you go to sleep as it works to initially make you drowsy and then increases your alertness later on- not exactly a workable formula for a good night’s sleep.
3. Don’t drink fluids immediately before bed. Nothing is worse than having to go to the bathroom multiple times during the night. It cuts into your quality sleep time and drinking right before bed can make you do just that. Always curtail your fluid intake two or three hours before bed so you won’t have to ever get up more than once.
4. Got to bed at the same time ever night if at all possible. If you don’t work a job with shift changes, sleeping the same hours every day can go a long way in increasing your quality of sleep and the likelihood that you will fall asleep.

How much sleep exactly do you need? It is a very individual requirement; much like food intake and it depends on the person and their activities. Eight hours is usually quoted as the standard for most, but others may need more or less depending on how they feel. The key is that you should be able to awaken refreshed in the morning at a regular hour without the need for an alarm. If you can’t do that or are excessively groggy and feel that you can’t function first thing in the morning without coffee or a pick me up of some sort- you really don’t need the coffee. What you need is more sleep. If your sleep problems persist however you may need to seek professional help, as inadequate sleep can be very much hazardous to your health.

References:

1.Stunkard A, Allison K., Lundgren J. Issues for DSM-V: Night Eating Syndrome- Am J Psychiatry 165:424, April 2008

2. CA Everson, Functional consequences of sustained sleep deprivation in the rat, Behavioral Brain Research 1995

3. Barf RP, Desprez T, Meerlo P,  Scheurink AJ. Increased food intake and changes in metabolic hormones in response to chronic sleep restriction alternated with short periods of sleep allowance. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2011

4. Taheri S, Lin L, Austin D, Young T, Mignot E (December 2004). “Short Sleep Duration Is Associated with Reduced Leptin, Elevated Ghrelin, and Increased Body Mass Index”.

5. Lyytikäinen P, Rahkonen O, Lahelma E, Lallukka T. Association of sleep duration with weight and weight gain: a prospective follow-up study. J Sleep Res. 2011

6. Nielsen LS, Danielsen KV, Sørensen TI. Short sleep duration as a possible cause of obesity: critical analysis of the epidemiological evidence. Obes Rev. 2011

7 Leproult R, Van Cauter E.Role of sleep and sleep loss in hormonal release and metabolism.Endocr Dev. 2010

8. Barr EL, Zimmet PZ, Welborn TA, et al. (2007). “Risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in individuals with diabetes mellitus, impaired fasting glucose, and impaired glucose tolerance: the Australian Diabetes, Obesity, and Lifestyle Study

9. Graham, TE; Sathasivam, P; Rowland, M; Marko, N; Greer, F; Battram, D (2001). “Caffeine ingestion elevates plasma insulin response in humans during an oral glucose tolerance test”. Canadian journal of physiology and pharmacology

10. Keijzers, GB; De Galan, BE; Tack, CJ; Smits, P (2002). “Caffeine can decrease insulin sensitivity in humans”. Diabetes care

11. Petrie, HJ; Chown, SE; Belfie, LM; Duncan, AM; McLaren, DH; Conquer, JA; Graham, TE (2004). “Caffeine ingestion increases the insulin response to an oral-glucose-tolerance test in obese men before and after weight loss”. The American journal of clinical nutrition

12. Akiba, T; Yaguchi, K; Tsutsumi, K; Nishioka, T; Koyama, I; Nomura, M; Yokogawa, K; Moritani, S et al. (2004). “Inhibitory mechanism of caffeine on insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in adipose cells”. Biochemical pharmacology

13. Palacios R., Sugawara I. (1982). “Hydrocortisone abrogates proliferation of T cells in autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction by rendering the interleukin-2 Producer T cells unresponsive to interleukin-1 and unable to synthesize the T-cell growth factor”. Scand J Immunol

14. Besedovsky, H.O.; Del Rey, A.; Sorkin, E. (1984) “Integration of Activated Immune Cell Products in Immune Endocrine Feedback Circuits.” p. 200 in Leukocytes and Host Defense Vol. 5

15.Inui A, Asakawa A, Bowers CY, et al. (2004). “Ghrelin, appetite, and gastric motility: the emerging role of the stomach as an endocrine organ”. FASEB J. 18 (3): 439–56. doi:10.1096/fj.03-0641rev. PMID 15003990.

16. Castañeda TR, Tong J, Datta R, Culler M, Tschöp MH. (2010). “Ghrelin in the regulation of body weight and metabolism”. Front Neuroendocrinol.

17. Brennan AM, Mantzoros CS (June 2006). “Drug Insight: the role of leptin in human physiology and pathophysiology–emerging clinical applications”. Nat Clin Pract Endocrinol Metab
Kevin Richardson is an award winning health and fitness writer, one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City and creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training™. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and need help losing weight or taking your body to the next level give Kevin and his team a call at 1-800-798-8420 or click here to get started with 50% off your trial personal training session.

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Understanding Eating Disorders, Binge Eating & Night Eating Syndrome

Eating disorders have existed in one form or another since the beginning of civilization; however it is without question that its presence has increased significantly over the past thirty years. It’s hard to pin point one central causative reason for the increase, but it goes without saying that the social and societal pressures to be thin and in great shape while living in a developed nation where over a third of the population is overweight has been consistently implicated as a cause for the growing number of mostly women with eating disorders. The unstoppable deluge of advertising and marketing cues for women to be supermodel slim and trim doesn’t only affect us here in the United States and Europe but creates an environment ripe for eating disorders even in third world countries where food supplies are scare. In India where it is estimated that almost 60% of the female population is malnourished and where a well rounded body has traditionally been upheld as a nationally accepted ideal, the influx of Western television has brought with it an explosion in the number of young girls with anorexia nervosa- often with fatal consequences.[1]

Here in the United States over eight million people suffer from an eating disorder of some kind with a huge gender bias of seven million women versus one million men.[2] One in 200 American women suffer from anorexia nervosa- the so called slimming disease that can cause suffers to starve themselves to death. A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders found that 5 – 10% of anorexics die within 10 years of contracting the disorder and that approximately one fifth of them will die within twenty years. Sadly the mortality rate for anorexia is 12 times higher than the death rates of all causes of death for young females within the ages of 15-24 years old[2], a sobering statistic, but one that does nothing to stop the presentation of being ultra thin to a fault as an ideal.

Bulimia  & Binge Eating- Signs & Symptoms

While one in every 200 American women suffers from anorexia, two to three in 100 women suffers from bulimia

Binge related eating disorders are even more widespread throughout the American female population- while one in every 200 American women suffers from anorexia, two to three in 100 women suffers from bulimia. Bulimia is an insidious and often silent illness in which a person binges on food or has regular episodes of overeating while feeling a very tangible loss of self control over their eating. The affected person then uses various methods such as vomiting, diet pills or laxative abuse to prevent weight gain.[3] Similar to but not exactly the same as bulimia, binge eating disorder is even more common as people with binge eating disorder often consume large amounts of food while feeling a real loss of control over their eating, but without the recourse to purging methods.[4]While almost everyone overeats at one point or another (usually over the holiday season), some overeat with a regularity that qualifies it as a disorder. While not categorized as a psychiatric condition per se, as with all eating disorders, binge eating comes with the classic cycle of compulsive urges followed by extreme feelings of guilt and powerlessness to stop a reoccurrence. As it is largely undiagnosed, millions are affected but no one can give a precise number as the practice is often shrouded in secrecy and the shame and embarrassment over having so little control over your actions isolate many from ever revealing that they have a problem and getting help.

While bulimia nervosa appears to be of relatively recent origin, binge eating has been a problem for humankind for centuries. Simply eating large amounts of food or being over one’s ideal weight does not mean that someone has a binge eating disorder. Research over the past three decades has conclusively shown that most obese individuals eat relatively normally, (read my post on calories to understand a bit more of how easy it is for us to gain weight) and that the subgroup of obese people with episodic periods of extreme food consumption is relatively small with some sufferers being of normal weight.[5] My experience over the years has been that most people regarded as ideals within the fitness industry do have serious problems with their attitudes towards food, sadly to the point where is can indeed be classed as a disorder.

The criteria for binge eating disorder are:

· Frequent episodes of eating what others would consider an abnormally large amount of food.

· Frequent feelings of being unable to control what or how much is being eaten.

Several or all of these behaviors or feelings:

• Eating much more rapidly than usual.
• Eating until uncomfortably full.
• Eating large amounts of food, even when not physically hungry.
• Eating in isolation out of embarrassment at the quantity of food being eaten.
• Feelings of disgust, depression, or guilt after overeating.[6]

Bulimia & Binge Eating In The Fitness Industry

The extreme dietary habits of many bodybuilders, fitness and figure competitors could be seriously categorized as an eating disorder.

Both binge eating and bulimia nervosa affects many bodybuilders and fitness models in numbers higher than most would expect. Persons with bulimia regularly purge, fast, or engage in an unhealthy pattern of prolonged strenuous exercise after episodes of binge eating which is a textbook description of the cycle for most competitive physique athletes. The purging process within bulima is usually understood as vomiting but it can also include the use of diuretics (water pills) or laxatives doses to avoid gaining weight after eating- practices that many in the health and fitness circles regularly engage in to maintain ‘the look’.

Fasting is defined as not eating for at least twenty-four hours and many use it as a way of making up for what they see as over the top food consumption (see my article on fasting as a form of weight loss here). Strenuous exercise, in this case, is defined as exercising for more than an hour, but not as a means to better health or self improvement, but as a reactive practice to avoid gaining weight after a period of binging. Purging, fasting, and prolonged strenuous exercise are dangerous ways to attempt weight control and the excessive shape and weight concerns of most competitors in the physique arena are also characteristics of bulimia and or eating disorder of some kind. Issues that may appear benign in someone with rippling abdominals and an ultra tight body, but one that is inevitability self destructive and unsustainable.

The only difference between a physique competitor and someone diagnosed with an eating disorder per se is that the cycle of weight gain, weight loss, extreme dieting, nutrient deprivation and dehydration combined with thousands of hours of daily prolonged strenuous exercise has become almost socially acceptable. Unfortunately the extreme practices of those following this particular lifestyle are seen as ideals for many who aspire to have well muscled and toned bodies just like those of the individuals they see in the pages of the magazines. Unless there is a sense of balance where your overall health is prioritized over the attainment of a transient cosmetic ideal such as being big and muscular or having extremely low body fat levels, the practice falls squarely in the realm of an eating disorder and has no relation to health and fitness whatsoever even though it is portrayed as such in the media.

Night Eating Syndrome- The Other Eating Disorder

Almost uncontrollable eating at night is a serious problem for many.

There are other eating disorders that can also often go unrecognized as 1.1-1.5% of the U.S. population suffers from another as yet undiagnosed eating disorder called Night Eating Syndrome. Seen as a delay in the daily rhythm of food intake, Night Eating Syndrome is defined by two important points:

The first is hyperphagia- which is an ingestion of over 25% of daily calories after dinner and or waking up to eat at least three times a week.[7]

Usually triggered by feelings of stress, Night Eating Syndrome is a disorder that that many can relate to, albeit in a less extreme form. Characterized by a lack of appetite for breakfast and the consumption of considerable amounts of high calorie, and usually high-carbohydrate snacks and insomnia, the foods eaten during the night time binge are almost always unhealthy.[4,6] After the night binge, the person is usually not hungry in the morning, and breakfast, the most important meal of the day for both optimal performance and appetite regulation is skipped. (Read more about the importance of breakfast for weight loss and appetite regulation here)

The excessive food intake at night also creates a decrease in melatonin, a critical sleep related hormone. The decrease in melatonin contributes to the increased sleep disturbances and insomnia associated with night eating syndrome.[8] Evidence suggests that night eating may be a pathway to obesity as in three studies it preceded the onset of obesity and was a major factor in predicting continued weight gain in female night eaters who were already obese.[9] Not only is night eating a contributor to increased weight gain, but it is also a serious cause of distress for those who feel overpowered by food at night.

Again, it should be kept in mind that most may not have the characteristics of this particular syndrome to the extent that it becomes pathological, but the pattern of almost uncontrollable late night snacking on high carbohydrate and unhealthy foods is a very common issue for many individuals today. While the general population may not be diagnosed as having an eating disorder, most still find the task of controlling their eating habits to be a Sisyphean task. However there are practical and systematic approaches that make the likelihood of success much greater and none of them involve quick fixes. Nothing worth achieving comes quickly, and having control over your eating habits is no exception. It takes practice and patience as lasting achievements stem from a lifetime of dedication. Exercise can go a long way in helping relieve some of the symptoms of depression that eating disorders can bring about, but again balance is the key. That being said, if you have an eating disorder it is always recommended that you first seek professional help.

Related Articles:

Changing Your Diet Forever- Why Change Is So Hard

Exercise and Depression

Fasting Is Not An Effective Form of  Weight Loss

References:

1. McGivering J. Anorexia takes hold in India. BBC News- 2003

2. Eating Disorder Statistics- South Carolina Dept. of Mental Health

3. Bulimia nervosa; Binge-purge behavior; Eating disorder – bulimia. A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia.

4.Marcus MD. “Binge Eating in Obesity.” In: Fairburn CG, Wilson GT (eds). Binge eating: nature, assessment, and treatment

5. Gordon, Richard A. 2000. Eating Disorders: Anatomy of a Social Epidemic. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, Ltd.

6. Stunkard AJ. “Eating Patterns and Obesity.” Psychiatric Quarterly, 1959, Vol. 33, pp. 284-295.

7. Stunkard A, Allison K., Lundgren J. Issues for DSM-V: Night Eating Syndrome- Am J Psychiatry 165:424, April 2008

8. Lundgren JD, Newberg A, Allison KC, Wintering N, Ploessl K, Stunkard AJ: 123I-ADAM SPECT imaging of serotonin transporter binding in patients with night eating syndrome: a pilot study. Psychiatry Res

 9. Andersen GS, Stunkard AJ, Sørensen TI, Petersen L, Heitmann BL: Night eating and weight change in middle-aged men and women. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004; 28:1338–1343

Kevin Richardson is an award winning fitness writer, one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City and the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training^TM. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here. If you live in the New York City metropolitan area and need help losing weight or getting into cover model shape, give Kevin and his team a call at 1-800-798-8420.

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Can Bread Make You Gain Weight? The Role Of Bread In Our Diet

Bread can make you gain weight- but then again, according to the laws of thermodynamics, so can everything else from rice to tuna fish if you eat enough of it. When I was growing up, most people’s idea of dieting meant of giving up bread. Long vilified for blamed for extra pounds around the waist, we’ve developed a love hate relationship with a food that has shaped human civilization for the past several thousand years. Most people love to eat bread, but many would also swear that eating bread can make you fat, and that it isn’t good for you. Advocates of (what is commonly called) the Paleolithic Diet suggest that bread is a fairly recent addition to the human diet. They argue that humans ate a hunter gatherer diet for the greater part of our time on the planet and that we are not biologically made to eat grains or any foods that are agriculturally based. Given the healthy constitutions of the few hunter gather bands that still exist on earth, it can be a pretty convincing argument as everything from obesity to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer are blamed on the consumption of wheat and grain products. But these arguments don’t take into consideration the fact that many cultures have eaten bread as a staple for millennia without the health problems we see today. While a hunter gatherer diet does indeed have some merit, we can’t point the finger at foods like bread- as the refined product found on the supermarket shelves today that bears little resemblance to the food that was a staple for so many for centuries.

Can Bread Make You Gain Weight? Understanding The History

Contrary to the popular belief that we ate only meat, nuts, fruit and roots during our time as hunter gatherers, there is archeological evidence today that a form of flatbread was made by early Europeans during the Paleolithic era as early as 30,000 years ago using plant roots.[1] When bread made from wheat and other grains became a prevalent addition to the diets of the inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent where wheat was first domesticated around 8500 BC [2], there was no catastrophic increase in the incidence of obesity or metabolic diseases. One can argue that the nutrition from a predominantly hunter gatherer is indeed superior to one of a more agriculturally based diet, but there is no evidence whatsoever of widespread illness as a result. Instead, it paved the way for stable villages instead of nomadic wandering, which lead to animal rearing and the creation of civilization as we know it.

The growing of wheat to make bread spread throughout the Eurasian continent and parts of Northern Africa and for thousands of years, bread has been a major solution to the problem of producing high energy foods that can sustain us. With as little as 3.5 oz of handmade stone ground  wheat bread yielding about a hundred calories, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fat and 10 grams of protein, bread was a concentrated and convenient energy source that became a healthy and wholesome part of the diet of most Eurasian cultures. Our second population explosion however, would change not only the bread that so many had benefited from for years, but our fundamental relationship with our food.

Can Bread Make You Gain Weight? Understanding The Effects Of New Technology

The Industrial Revolution in the later part of the 1800’s brought new ways of addressing the food requirements of the growing number of people in living in Europe at the time. While initially created with the most noble of intentions, technology has done much to degrade the quality of food we eat today, but it also enables us to produce more of it to feed more people. Bread was one of the first casualties of this new technology when the method of producing wheat flour was changed. Before steel milling technology, wheat was stone ground, either manually or between large stone wheels powered by rivers or animals. The resulting flour was nothing like the white flour that we are used to today, as stone grinding only removes the bran from the wheat kernel, but not the endosperm (or wheat germ) which contains an impressive array of protein, folic acid,  B vitamins, carotenes and omega-3 fatty acids. Stone grinding crushes the wheat germ and releases the oils inside, leaving it a yellowish gray color (thanks to the carotene content) and has the effect of decreasing the flour’s shelf life. The oils in the wheat germ soon oxidize and turn rancid when exposed to the air, as do all omega-3 fats at room temperature. Consequently wheat flour was a very perishable food product, and every town had to have its own flour mill, as the finished flour could not travel very far without spoiling.

The advent of steel milling changed this, as steel rollers can grind wheat to a much finer consistency than stone grinding ever could and steel milling also removes the endosperm completely. Without the presence of the quickly spoiled omega-3 fats, flour could be stored for longer periods of time and transported across vast distances. Interestingly enough, vermin no longer ravaged the new nutrient depleted white flour as it was a now a far cry from the nutritious stone ground flours, making storage far easier. Europeans at the time preferred white flour over its courser and somewhat smelly stone ground counterpart, and for years only wealthy members of society had access to truly white flour. Steam driven steel milling made it possible for everyone to have access to affordable white flour and by the 1880’s refined flour became the new European staple- one that would eventually spread around the world. Unfortunately, with this new refined flour came many problems, some of which we are still dealing with today.

The first problem with refined flour was that all breads made from it were no longer the food that human had eaten for tens of thousands of years. It was an entirely new food and in many ways unnatural, as it lacked the nutrients that helped us digest breads safely and efficiently. As bread made from refined flours became more available there were outbreaks of crippling vitamin B deficiencies such as beriberi and pellagra as these vitamins were no longer present in the breads that most people of the time ate as their main source of food. The discovery of vitamins in the 1930’s lead to vitamin enriched bread, (basically adding a vitamin pill to the flour) which minimized the B vitamin deficiency related diseases. Yet it was only in 1996 that health authorities realized that most people also had folic acid deficiencies and thus it was mandated that folic acid be added to refined flour as well. These measures may have stemmed some of the deficiency problems, but does they did little to address the problems of obesity, diabetes and certain cancers that have been linked to the process of refining carbohydrates.[3]

An important dilemma that bread made from refined flours pose is the lack of fiber. Steel milling removes the fiber that served to slow the release of the natural sugars in bread. The fine grinding also reduces the flour is to smaller individual particles. As a result, there is a larger surface area exposed to our digestive enzymes when we eat it, so the starches in bread made from refined flours turn to sugar much faster and increases its glycemic index. The rapid increase of sugars in the bloodstream then set off a chain of events that can lead to increased weight gain. The pancreas has to work harder than normal to deal with the quick influx of sugars and responds with a spike in insulin levels to reduce the sugar levels in the blood. Natural foods don’t create insulin spikes and the human body isn’t designed to handle such spikes, which can prevent existing fat stores from being used as energy and promote fat storage. This chain of events has been implicated as one of the major factors for obesity, diabetes and the slew of metabolic related chronic diseases that we face today. That being said, avoiding bread and wheat products made from any refined flour is an important part of staying healthy and maintaining a healthy bodyweight.

Can Bread Make You Gain Weight? The Role Of Whole Grains

Are there any kinds of bread that we can eat today without having to worry about gaining weight and negatively impacting your health? The answer is yes and no. Whole grains breads are defined as those where the flour still contains the wheat germ and bran. They thus are higher in protein, healthy fats, vitamins and antioxidants.  An study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that people eating whole grains tended to have lower fasting insulin levels  as compared to those eating refined grains, and it suggested that whole grain consumption may be an important component in reducing type 2 diabetes.[4] Other studies have also found that regular consumption of whole grains lowers LDL and triglyceride levels and can reduce the risk of heart disease by 26%. [5] Other studies found that the more whole grains were eaten, the lesser the likelihood of hypertension, diabetes and obesity when compared to those who ate refined grains.[6]

The protective effects of whole grains may depend on the presence or interaction of several biologically active constituents, including dietary fiber, vitamin E, magnesium, folate, and other

nutrients and nonnutrients.[7] Dietary fiber  absent or reduced in refined breads has been shown to decrease glucose, insulin, and serum lipid concentrations in both diabetic and nondiabetic persons.[8,9] Magnesium, found in the grain germ, is also associated with low insulin levels [10,11] and a low incidence of type 2 diabetes [12,13,14] and vitamin E and folate are both linked to a reduced risk of heart disease. [15, 16]

Here in the United States few consume whole grain breads, although their popularity is on the rise. Shrewd food manufacturers often use confusing labels that make it hard to figure out which breads are really whole grains, but at the end of the day even most of the whole grain breads today are still a far cry from the more natural food that our ancestors ate. Bread is a simple mix of flour, water and yeast, contrast that with the 15 ingredients of one brand of stone ground whole wheat, which include high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, mono-diglycerides, mono-calcium phosphate, calcium propionate, ethoxylated mono-diglycerides and soy lecithin. Nothing even remotely resembling the healthy breads of our forefathers and if history is to teach us one thing, it should be that modernized food products come with health consequences. Nowadays the healthy properties of one ingredient is in a product is held up as a justification to classify a food as being healthy, but I doubt that anyone would consider a bread with high fructose corn syrup and several unpronounceable chemicals healthy or natural even if it was made with stone ground flour.

When it comes to bread, the less ingredients the better. Some brands are better than others, but bear in mind that real bread has a limited shelf life, is far more expensive and won’t have the taste you may be used to. In a way it’s ironic that the very bread that the poorer people ate has become the most expensive, and is in fact the healthiest. Stone ground and whole grain or not, you still need to bear in mind that bread is a high calorie food. In years past people subsisted on bread with very simple additions to their diet, and not the abundance of foods that we eat today. That being said, they didn’t have to worry about portion control as it was quite often all that they had to eat. We have far more options today and a slice of bread can add a considerable number of calories to your intake, especially if you make a sandwich and use two slices. At the end of the day, if watching your weight is a priority, you might be better off eating bread in limited quantities relative to your activity level and caloric needs or not at all.

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City and the creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training. Visit Kevin’s official website at www.naturallyintense.net and get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and need help losing weight or taking your body to the next level give Kevin and his team a call at 1-800-798-8420. Check out Kevin’s personal training services here.

References

1. Prehistoric man ate flatbread 30,000 years ago: study”. Physorg.com. AFP. October 19, 2010.

2. Guns Germs & Steel, J. Diamond

3. In Defense Of Food, M. Pollan

4.  Whole Grain Foods and Heart Disease Risk,  J.W. Anderson, T.J. Hanna,  X. Peng,  R. Kryscio,  Metabolic Research Group, Nutritional Sciences, Division of Biostatistics, VA Medical Center and University of Kentucky. American College of Nutrition Journal  2002.

5. Whole-grain intake is favorably associated with metabolic risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the Framingham Offspring Study. N. M McKeown, J.B. Meigs, S. Liu, P. WF Wilson,  P.F. Jacques. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition August 2002

6  Plausible mechanisms for the protectiveness of whole grains. Slavin JL, Martini MC, Jacobs DR Jr, Marquart L.  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1999

7.  Impact of nondigestible carbohydrates on serum lipoproteins and risk for cardiovascular disease. Anderson JW, Hanna TJ.  Journal of  Nutrition 1999

8. Beneficial effects of high dietary fiber intake in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Chandalia M, Garg A, Lutjohann D, von Bergmann K, Grundy SM, Brinkley LJ.New England  Journal of Medicine 2000

9.  Correlates of fasting insulin levels in young adults: the CARDIA study. Manolio TA, Savage PJ, Burke GL, et al.  Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 1991

10. Associations of serum and dietary magnesium with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, insulin, and carotid arterial wall thickness: the ARIC study. Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Ma J, Folsom AR, Melnick SL, et al. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 1995

11. Carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and incident type 2 diabetes in older women. Meyer KA, Kushi LH, Jacobs DR Jr, Slavin J, Sellers TA, Folsom AR.  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000

12. Dietary fiber, glycemic load, and risk of NIDDM in men. Salmeron J, Ascherio A, Rimm EB, et al. Diabetes Care 1997.

13. Dietary fiber, glycemic load, and risk of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in women. Salmeron J, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA,Wing AL,Willett WC.  Journal of the American Medical Association 1997.

14. Folate and vitamin B6 from diet and supplements in relation to risk of coronary heart disease among women. Rimm EB,Willett WC, Hu FB, et al . Journal of the American Medical Association 1998

15. Long-term intake of dietary fiber and decreased risk of coronary heart disease among women. Wolk A, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, et al. Journal of the American Medical Association 1999, 1998–2004.

16. Vitamin E consumption and the risk of coronary disease in women. Stampfer MJ, Hennekens CH, Manson JE, Colditz GA, Rosner B, Willett WC.  New England Journal of Medicine 1993.

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The Placebo Effect On Weight Loss And Sports Performance

My fascination with the placebo effect began many years ago in a small but serious gym in Trinidad. Back home, steroids were very much a part of the weightlifting and bodybuilding culture. Everyone knew where you could get it and who you could get it from, but dealers were very discriminating in who they would or would not sell their wares to. One day, about two or three months from our Carnival, one of the young guys at the gym (who we will call Greg) decided that he was going to use steroids to get in shape for the coming festivities. He was not particularly liked and all of the steroid dealers had refused to sell to him at one time or another. He was however, annoyingly persistent, and so, partly to shut him up and partly because they didn’t really like him very much, they conspired to give him fake drugs. Thinking that it would be worth a laugh, they agreed to give him an injection of what they told him was testosterone propionate every week for two months. I can hardly express how happy he was. He was so looking forward to starting his cycle, and while I was appalled that they would play such a cruel trick on him, for purposes of self preservation (I wasn’t big and muscled back then) I held my tongue.

Dutifully every week, Greg and the guys would assemble in the men’s locker room to administer his shot. It was always an event, with most of them bursting at the seams trying hard not to laugh as he was injected with diluted vegetable oil and (hopefully) sterilized water. The joke, turned out to be on them. In spite of the fact that Greg was receiving a weekly dose of watered down vegetable oil, he put on a solid fifteen pounds of muscle in the course of two months, and when from being able to squat 225 lbs for six repetitions to 315 lbs for 12 repetitions. The weight on all of his lifts when up and not only did he get bigger, leaner and stronger, but he also developed an acne problem. A tell tale sign of steroid use! Utterly perplexed, the guys at the gym couldn’t understand what was happening. They eventually came clean and gave him his money back, flabbergasted and apologetic for having pulled a prank that didn’t pan out as expected, but Greg would not have it! He firmly believed that they were simply envious of his remarkable gains, how else could he have done what he did? The answer has fascinated me for decades and I have seen the astounding effects that placebos can have. Yet, aside from using it to sell supplements, snake oil and even pharmaceutical drugs, it isn’t studied as much as it should be.

What Is A Placebo?

A placebo as applied by medical science is defined as a preparation which is pharmacologically inert (such as a sugar pill) but which appears to have a therapeutic effect based solely on the power of suggestion.[1] In a medical setting, the placebo effect occurs when a patient or individual takes an inert substance, with some degree of suggestion either from a person or institution of authority, or from information about the pill that states that the pill will have a positive effect in the individual’s healing process and there is an improvement in their condition. Credible studies proving the placebo effect have been around since the late 1930’s, and yet it is largely ignored by the public. It is so powerful that the FDA requires it as a part of all drug trials and physicians regularly use it today as part of standard treatment. Almost 50% of the doctors polled in a 2007 survey admitted to prescribing medications that they knew were ineffective for their patients’ conditions or in doses too low to produce any possible therapeutic benefit but to provoke a placebo response.[2] It is disheartening that rather than viewing our innate ability to positively influence medical outcomes and changes in our bodies solely from suggestion as a positive aspect, most ignore it or see it as some sort of trickery. In so doing, many miss the wondrous potential locked within us all.

The More You Spend On A Placebo Product- The Better It Works

From a marketing perspective, this view is encouraged, as it puts the emphasis back on creating the need for a drug, pill or powder for everything from the common cold to weight loss.  The power of placebos is quite well known among makers of questionable products like supplements and even some pharmaceutical drugs.  A study published in the Journal of American Medicine, showed that the placebo effect was indeed directly proportional to the amount of money spent on the placebo. For the test, the subjects were given a serie of painful electric shocks. Participants were then asked to rate the pain they felt after each shock. They were then given a placebo pill that they were told had properties similar to codeine, a powerful pain medication. The pill given was completely inert and half of the patients were told that their treatment cost $2.50 per pill. The other half was told that their pills had been purchased at a discounted price of ten cents per pill. When they were then given a second series of electric shocks, and asked to rate the pain, 85% of the patients taking the $2.50 pill reported that the second set of shocks were less painful. In contrast only 61 % of those taking the ten cent pill said the shocks were less painful. The conclusion was unmistakable: the more expensive the pill, it seems, the larger the perceived effect — even when the pill clearly actually has no effect whatsoever.

There are other social factors involved in the efficacy of the placebo effect. Over the years, it has been shown that the placebo effect is in fact getting stronger and that it differs greatly from culture to culture.[3] One reason why the placebo effect continues to grow could be the omnipresence of marketing for both pharmaceutical drugs and pseudoscience products here in the United States. Since 1997 when the FDA lifted its restriction on direct-to-consumer advertising, we have been deluged by ads promoting the effectiveness of numerous pharmaceutical drugs. Ads designed in part to increase the placebo response of the drugs themselves and in some cases the marketing has backfired. So strong has the placebo response become for some popular antidepressants and statin drugs,  that if they were tested today against inert substances they wouldn’t pass the FDA requirements for working better than a placebo.[2] To counter this, many companies have moved their test trials to other countries with lower placebo responses to get their drugs approved.

How The Placebo Effect Can Make It Seem Like Everything Works For Weight Loss

For vitamin, herb and supplement manufacturers, this created a goldmine of opportunities. With the right pricing, the right athletes or celebrity endorsements and the right advertising campaign, they could make outlandish claims about their products and always find an audience who would swear that their products work. Thanks to the placebo effect. Over the years, everything from boron to bee pollen has been marketed to improve muscle building and fat loss. Each time a new product is released, there are those who swear by the results they see. Even though, as time goes on, the products are shown to be completely ineffective. Back in the 90’s, as an impressionable teenager, I used everything from Mexican sarsaparilla to linseed in the quest to get bigger and stronger without resorting to anabolic steroids or prohormones.

As ineffective as they were all shown to be when everyone else was using it, we all felt that we saw some results.

In my personal training practice, I have seen the placebo effect as a powerful psychological tool for weight loss. I have always maintained a strict no supplement or fat loss supplement policy with my clients as they either don’t work or are potentially harmful. However, a number of bodybuilders and fitness models who I worked with in preparation for competitions or high end photo shoots, would complain that other athletes had an edge over them since they were using fat burners. To counter this, I would find a fat burning product with the least harmful looking ingredients (which wasn’t easy) and tell them that while I did not recommend it, if they had to take anything they could take 1/9 the dosage prescribed on the bottle to help them lose body fat. In every case, they felt better and claimed the supplement helped them lose more body fat. After the contest or photo shoot, I would inform them that not only the supplements they used were worthless in terms of fat burning, but that even if it could work the dose was far too low for them to experience any significant effect. All the positive results came from their training and dedication to their diets. The best part of my little trick is that for all other shows or shoots in the future, they never felt like they needed anything else to help them get into shape as they understood that the power always came from within.

References:

1. Gensini GF, Conti AA, Conti A (April 2005). “Past and present of what will please the lord: an updated history of the concept of placebo”. Minerva Med 96

2. Silverman S. The Placebo Problem. Wired

3. Moerman DE (2000). “Cultural variations in the placebo effect: ulcers, anxiety, and blood pressure”. Med Anthropol Q

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after NYC personal trainers and creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here.

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Why We Regain Weight And How To Stop It- The Leptin Connection

Losing weight is easy- most of us have done it several times over the course of our lives. The problem is that after faithfully following a regime of diet and exercise, something happens.  A shift occurs. Not all at once, but subtly. You find yourself after weeks or perhaps even months of dedication, slipping back into the old unhealthy eating habits. Foods that you religiously avoided suddenly seem to regain their appeal. A hole opens up in your stomach that begs to be filled and your appetite once again becomes a raging and uncontrollable beast! Fast forward several weeks and you’ve regained the weight that you worked so hard to lose. What gives us cause for alarm is that this Sisyphean tale isn’t an extraordinary case- it is the plight that most people face when trying to lose weight. Today, weight loss has become almost a national preoccupation as we spend billions of dollars in the quest to lose weight and not regain it. In spite of the fact that more people are trying to lose weight ( more than at any time in our history) the average American’s BMI has increased steadily over the past 20 years. [1,2] In fact studies have found that the more we diet, the more likely we are to regain weight in the future. [4, 5] That being said, why is keeping the weight off so hard?  How can we stop this seemingly never ending cycle of losing weight and regaining it? The answer may lies in understanding a hormone called leptin.

Why We Regain Weight- The Leptin Connection

Leptin, (coming from the Greek word, leptos which means ‘thin’) is an important hormone responsible for regulating our caloric intake, metabolism and appetite and is one of the most important hormones produced by adipose (fat) tissue. [6] Leptin sends information about our food intake to key regulatory centers in our brain called hypothalamus.

Studies have found that increased body fat is associated with increased levels of leptin, which then acts to reduce our food intake by killing our appetite so we don’t get too fat. Unfortunately,  although it works as a signal to reduce appetite, most obese individuals have an unusually high circulating concentration of leptin.[6] These people are said to be leptin resistant  in very much the same way people with adult onset (type 2) diabetes are resistant to the effects of insulin. The high concentrations of leptin from high levels of fat tissue seems to result in leptin desensitization thus people with high fat levels don’t always feel sated after eating and will tend to overeat. There are many theories as to why this occurs- some studies have found connections to high fructose corn syrup. [6,7,8,9] but there are several questions yet unanswered.

While we understand how leptin resistance can make us overeat,  what most fail to realize is that leptin can also sabotage our attempts to lose weight as well. Any decrease in body fat will, as a rule, lead to a decrease in circulating leptin levels, which stimulates food intake and reduces energy expenditure. [10] Our urges to eat are enormously complex, and don’t only fall within the realm of hormones.  There are also sizeable social, behavioral and sensory components to our eating habits that make it intrinsically difficult to change our eating habits in the first place. Add to this, the unconscious urges to eat brought on by leptin and other hormones and you have a recipe for throwing diet to the wind after losing a certain amount of weight.

Why We Regain Weight- The Role Of Hormones On Our Unconscious Urges

Yes, we have the ability to control our eating- and there are many tried and true techniques we can use to distract ourselves- but outside of these methods, most find themselves utterly lost when it comes to self control in the face of long term dieting. From my own experience devouring pizzas (meaning more than one at a sitting) and donuts in the double digits after having reduced my body fat levels to under 4% back in my natural bodybuilding days, I can personally attest to how powerful hormones can be in forcing you to overeat when your body fat levels drop! It isn’t about willpower at that point- the drives are far too primal in nature to be ignored when your fat levels are so low.

Why can’t we always stop ourselves in the face of such urges? Why is motivation almost useless at these times? Feeling hungry is an intense experience. One that seems to turn off the light switch for rational thinking. The more weight you lose, the greater the hunger you will feel, growing more and more in intensity as you lose more and more weight until your conscious desire to lose weight is simply overwhelmed by the primal desire to eat. The basic drive to eat, while not as powerful as our need to breathe, is very similar in that no matter how hard we try to suppress it, in the end our unconscious inevitably wins. Try telling yourself, for example, to hold your breath. You can, using the force of sheer willpower hold your breath for a minute or two, but as time goes in, the need to breathe will always overcome your will to hold your breath and you will exhale. The same plight awaits those who use conventional means of dieting. It isn’t that the overweight among us don’t want to look and feel better by losing weight, but in the process of losing weight, most are doomed to eventually give in to the compulsion to eat everything in sight. A sobering thought, but is there a way around this, or are we hardwired to be fat no matter how hard we try? The answer thankfully, is yes, but it isn’t easy.

Why We Regain Weight- The Need For Building Muscle & Not Following A Fixed Diet

One of the most important aspects of any diet and exercise program has to be an emphasis on muscle building. Its importance comes from the fact that, no matter how hard you try, you will want to eat more as you lose more and more body fat and the more muscle you have- the more you can eat and still keep losing weight! At 6 feet tall, 225 lbs and just about 5-6% body fat, I need a staggering 6 to as many as 7 meals a day to keep from consuming any small land animals that venture in my path. Muscle requires energy to be built and maintained and so, by following a program of high intensity weight training focused on building lean muscle mass, you can offset the reduction in energy expenditure that comes with losing weight and be able to eat more as you may need more calories than you did before you lost weight in the first place! A perfect fix- but not without some key interventions. Your diet has to be regulated and changed as your nutritional and caloric needs change with the reduction in body fat and the increase of activity and muscle mass. If you find yourself feeling really hungry, your diet has to be carefully adjusted to increase your macronutrient intake so that you are not starving at the end of the day when we are most susceptible to food cravings.

This method has been proven over decades to help bodybuilders to fitness models in the know, get lean and stay lean all year round and it isn’t terribly complicated. It can be done on your own, but most need professional help with creating and regulating their dietary intake- as it isn’t a one size fits all situation, and some instruction is usually required in terms of the appropriate exercise intensity that will stimulate muscle growth. The end result of this process are the very stars and fit bodies that we see gracing the covers of magazines, and not the unsightly and over muscled image that most associate with muscle building. This negative image, reinforced by millions of steroid users, is the major reason why weight training is less in vogue and why many shy away from it in favor of aerobic exercise and conventional dieting that almost always ends in failure. The muscle minded fitness boom of the 1980’s saw many people embrace the benefits of weight training as an effective form of permanent weight loss, but the competitive and often drug induced extreme aspects saw to it that it fell very much out of fashion with the general public. High intensity weight training isn’t easy- nor is it as do-it-yourself as hopping on an exercise machine or taking a class and it does require some knowledge in nutrition to make it work – but in my experience it is the only way I have seen anyone who was obese get a six pack and keep it. The focus on self reliance and individuality  as opposed  to a one-size-fits-all approach makes it difficult for the weight loss industry to cash in on it- but it is an important method that needs to be studied and implemented more, as conventional approaches as so many of us know, ultimately fail.

References

1. Flegal KM, Caroll MD, Ogden CL, Johnson CL. Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999-2000. JAMA

2. Ogden CL, Flegal KM, Caroll MD, Johnson CL, Prevalence and trends in overweight among US children and adolescents, 199-2000. JAMA

3. Korkeila M, Rissanen A, Kaprio J, et al. Weight-loss attempts and risk of major weight gain: a prospective study in Finnish adults. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

4. Gasser GA. Big fat lies: the truth about your weight and your health. Carlsbad: Gurze Books

5. Korkeila M, Rissanen A, Kaprio J, et al. Weight-loss attempts and risk of major weight gain: a prospective study in Finnish adults.

6. “Fructose Sets Table For Weight Gain Without Warning”. Science News. Science Daily.

7. Vasselli JR (November 2008). “Fructose-induced leptin resistance: discovery of an unsuspected form of the phenomenon and its significance. Focus on “Fructose-induced leptin resistance exacerbates weight gain in response to subsequent high-fat feeding,” by Shapiro et al.”. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol.

8. Shapiro A, Mu W, Roncal C, Cheng KY, Johnson RJ, Scarpace PJ (November 2008). “Fructose-induced leptin resistance exacerbates weight gain in response to subsequent high-fat feeding”. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol.

9. Considine RV, Sinha MK, Heiman ML, Kriauciunas A, Stephens TW, Nyce MR, Ohannesian JP, Marco CC, McKee LJ & Bauer TL (1996). “Serum Immunoreactive-Leptin Concentrations in Normal-Weight and Obese Humans”. N Engl J Med

10. Friedman JM. War on Obesity- Not the Obese. Science

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after NYC personal trainers and creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here. If you live in the New York City area and need help losing weight or getting into shape give Kevin and his team a call at 1-800-798-8420.

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