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Processed Foods Are Adding to the Number on the Scale: New Study

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Processed foods

A new study found processed foods may actually have a more profound impact on weight gain than initially thought. Ultra-processed items led to weight gain within just two weeks. Because these foods are typically cheaper, individuals who are unable to buy organic, more expenses foods may have the highest risk of obesity due to the foods they can afford.

Previous Findings

Processed foods include things like soda, packaged snacks, meat nuggets, many frozen meals, and other foods high in additives.

Previous studies have linked processed foods to obesity, intestinal inflammation, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and possibly even death. Despite these findings, processed foods still make up 57.9 percent of the food intake in the United States.

“Previous studies have found correlations between ultra-processed food consumption and obesity,” Kevin D. Hall, from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said.

Hall and his colleagues led the most recent study to compare unprocessed and processed foods. The study was published in the journal Cell Metabolism. 

The Latest Study

To conduct the study, the research team took a look at 10 men and 10 women. All study participants stayed at the clinical center for 28 days. Half of the individuals involved in the study were given ultra-processed food for the first two weeks of their stay. The rest of the participants received unprocessed foods during the two-week timeframe. After two weeks, the groups switched.

All of the participants ate three meals each day. Researchers instructed them to eat as little or as much as they’d like. Snacks and bottled water was available to them throughout the day as well.

What they found was that individuals on the ultra-processed food diet ate around 508 calories more every day than when they were eating unprocessed food. Because of this, each of them put on about 2 pounds, most of which was body fat. Those on the unprocessed food diet lost 2 pounds during the two-week timeframe. They also saw an increase in gut hormone peptide YY. This hormone typically decreases hunger.

Why Are Processed Foods Bad?

The weight gain seen in the study participants may come from several factors, according to Hall. Individuals in the processed food group ate much faster, consuming an additional 17 calories per minute than their unprocessed counterpart.

“Ultra-processed foods contribute to more than half the calories consumed in the USA, and they are cheap and convenient options,” Hall stated.

Because it accounts for such a high amount of the U.S. population’s food intake, Hall is pointing to socioeconomic changes as an answer.

He concluded the study’s paper by saying, “However, policies that discourage consumption of ultra-processed foods should be sensitive to the time, skill, expense, and effort required to prepare meals from minimally processed foods — resources that are often in short supply for those who are not members of the upper socioeconomic classes.”

What do you think about the latest findings about processed foods? 

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Here’s How to Prevent Dementia

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Prevent dementia

Dementia is a crippling disease that impacts more than 50 million people worldwide. It has been estimated that it may cost the world economy $1 trillion by 2050. Because of its massive impact, health officials have been working diligently to find treatment and prevention methods. The World Health Organization (WHO) has released guidelines to help prevent dementia.

The Perils of Dementia

Each year, another 10 million people develop dementia. Currently, it is an incurable condition. Researchers are constantly working on a way to treat it without any luck. Instead, they’ve switched their focus to preventative measures.

Many different health conditions and factors contribute to your risk of developing dementia later in life. Although age is a factor in developing the debilitating disease, it is not a normal part of aging and it isn’t inevitable either. WHO estimates that one-third of dementia cases could be prevented.

“In the next 30 years, the number of people with dementia is expected to triple,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “We need to do everything we can to reduce our risk of dementia. The scientific evidence gathered for these guidelines confirm what we have suspected for some time, that what is good for our heart, is also good for our brain.”

The organization released a 100-page report with various recommendations for people to consider.

How to Prevent Dementia

WHO’s advice is common sense: take care of yourself in your younger years to prevent dementia. The health organization suggests getting an appropriate amount of exercise and having a social life. You should also avoid bad habits such as drinking too much alcohol, overeating, and smoking. Additionally, you should treat any existing health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

Some research suggests sticking to a Mediterranean diet may be another preventative measure. More importantly, you should eat well. However, Vitamin B and E, and fish oil pills won’t do anything to help prevent dementia, though they claim to.

“There is currently no evidence to show that taking these supplements actually reduces the risk of cognitive decline and dementia, and in fact, we know that in high doses these can be harmful,” said Dr. Neerja Chowdhary of the WHO. You should get these nutrients through food instead.

There are no games or activities that will help you prevent dementia either, despite claims. There is also a lack of evidence to prove antidepressants will help reduce your risk of dementia as well.

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Signs It’s Time to Take a Mental Health Day

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Mental health day

Your mental health has a profound impact on other aspects of your life, including your finances. Although we often joke around about taking a mental health day, most of us could benefit from one from time-to-time.

“Fake” Sick Days

Most of us throw around the words “mental health day” like they are a joke. The benefits of taking a day for yourself are just as big as taking a day to recover from illness. In fact, even though most folks have paid vacation and sick leave, they don’t take advantage of it.

However, mental health days are truly important to your overall well-being, whether you realize it or not. If you have the ability to take a day off and tend to your personal needs, you should, especially if you’re experiencing any of these signs.

Signs You Need a Mental Health Day

Everyone has hit a wall where they feel like they need a vacation. Once you’ve got there, it is typically a breaking point though. Usually, there are a few signs you need to take a day off before you reach your wit’s end.

1. Your sleep schedule isn’t right.

If you have been having trouble sleeping or have been sleeping at odd hours, consider taking a day off. Taking the day to rest and reset your body’s clock can make all the difference in the world for your mental health and overall sense of well-being.

2. You seem to be struggling to control your emotions.

When your mental health needs attention sometimes you’ll have trouble controlling your emotions. You may find yourself crying more than usual or having mood swings. If this is the case, consider taking a day to unplug and relax. Do a few of your favorite things.

3. You have a low tolerance for the presence of others.

Another sign of a much-needed mental health day is an overall low tolerance being around others. Small things that normally wouldn’t bother you are getting under your skin and it seems everyone in the workplace’s main goal is to drive you insane. If that’s the case, stay home and stay to yourself for a day. Watch some of your favorite movies, take naps, eat your favorite foods, and unplug from technology.

Mental health day

4. You find yourself having to talk yourself into going in.

If you have been sitting in your car outside of work considering whether or not you should go in, you are probably in need of a mental health day. Sometimes the stresses of our jobs can get to us. Maybe you haven’t had the time to do other things that are important to you. Whatever the case may be, this is a sign that you need to cash in a PTO day and stay home.

5. There’s a lack of enjoyment in everything you do.

This is a sign you are starting to slip into a depression. If you aren’t enjoying anything and have no enjoyment in the workplace, it is time for a day off! Maybe even make it a Monday or Friday to get the benefits of a three-day weekend.

6. Making any kind of decision seems daunting.

If decisions seem to cause immense anxiety, you need a day off. Stress and being overworked can often add to anxiety and make regular everyday tasks seem daunting. Stay home for the day and take it easy.

7. Focusing on anything seems impossible.

When you are so overwhelmed by your own mental health and environment, focusing can be difficult. If this seems to be happening to you, take a day off to regroup. Practice self-care in the form of organizing, planning, and doing things that will make focus a bit easier.

8. Your health has been suffering.

Sometimes stress and mental health problems can take a serious toll on your physical well-being as well. Stress, anxiety, and being overworked can cause your immune system to be compromised and lead you to fall ill more often. If you find yourself catching the common cold a little too often, it may be time for a vacation!

9. You genuinely can’t remember the last time you took time off.

We all know someone that works so much they can’t really remember the last time they took actual time off. If that’s you, take a day now! You have no idea what benefits taking a single day off can have for your health and even your productivity at work.

These are just a few signs that you may be in need of a mental health day. If you’re feeling at all overwhelmed, consider taking a day off for yourself. When you come back refreshed and able to conquer your tasks in a productiv manner, you’ll be glad you did. Heck, you might even get a raise…

Readers, when was the last mental health day you took? 

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Your Diet Drinks Are Increasing Your Risk of Stroke

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Diet drinks

Exchanging diet drinks for high-sugar soda seems like a no-brainer, especially if you’re dieting. Why waste the calories (and ingest all that additional sugar) for no reason? Health officials have been wary of diet soda and other similar beverages for some time. Now, new research has shown women who drink a lot of diet beverages have an increased risk of stroke.

Avoid Having Two or More Diet Drinks a Day

For the purposes of the study, researchers defined “a lot” of diet drinks as two or more per day. Women who claimed to drink at least two artificially sweetened beverages per day were found to be 31 percent more likely to have an ischemic stroke. For African American women and women who are obese, those chances double.

An ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke and is typically caused by a blood clot. The chances of individuals having this type of stroke more than doubled if they consumed high levels of diet drinks.

The findings were derived from health data from over 12 years and included more than 81,000 women, ages 50+. Researchers compared the health status of women who drank two diet sodas or fruit drinks a day to individuals who drank those types of beverages once a week (or not at all).

What they found is the high consumption of diet drinks came with increased health risks, not just an increased risk of stroke. Women who consumed high numbers of diet beverages were shown to have a 29 percent higher risk of heart disease. Researchers also found they are 16 percent more likely to die earlier than others.

Diet Drink Alternatives

Although the study did not specify which artificial sweeteners the drinks contained, it is safe to say you should probably avoid them altogether. The American Heart Association suggests that the best no-calorie drink you can consume is water (plain, flavored, or carbonated). As long as it is unsweetened, it is the best choice for a diet drink.

Because all of the participants involved were 50+, it is unclear as to whether the findings would apply to everyone. However, regardless of your age, it is probably a good idea to steer clear of artificial sweeteners.

Readers, how often do you consume diet drinks? Are you concerned about these findings?

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10 Important Things Money Can’t Buy

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things money cant buy
We talk a lot about money: How to get it, how to spend it, where to spend it, and how to save it. For all the time we devote to talking about, worrying about, and dealing with money, you’d think it was the most important thing in the world. If the time spent obsessing about money truly equated to its worth, there would be nothing you couldn’t do or have without money. Money would be the only thing that mattered. But is money really as valuable as our obsession level leads us to believe?

Money Can’t Buy Everything

Money is important, obviously. Without it we’d have no roof over our heads, food in our bellies or clothes on our backs. Money allows us to do and have more things than we can without it. It’s a means to an end. But, for all that money is useful and good to have around, for all that it can buy, there are quite a few things that it can’t buy. Even if you have millions of dollars, there are some things you’ll never have with money alone. So what can’t money buy? Here’s 10.

1. Lost Time

Money cannot buy back lost time. As each day passes, it is lost and you can never get it back. When you miss that chance to say, “I love you,” to someone special, or you tell your kids, “Not now, I have to work,” that opportunity is gone. No amount of money that you make in the future will get that day, that moment, back.

2. Happiness

It’s a cliche that money can’t buy happiness, but it’s also true. It can buy you some fun and fleeting joy-a cool vacation, a big TV, a fast car-but it can’t buy the true happiness that comes from liking yourself, having stable relationships, and good a familial support system.

3. Happy, Well-Adjusted Kids

Money can buy your kids a lot of clothes, toys, and gizmos, but it can’t turn them into secure, responsible, well-mannered, intelligent people. That only comes from the time you spend with them and the things you teach them. Money might help with some aspects of parenting, but it’s been proven many times that kids, once their basic needs are met, benefit more from parents spending time with them than the amount of money spent on them.

4. Love

It’s another cliche that money can’t buy love, but a true one. Money can buy initial attraction or even lust, but “true” love comes from mutual respect, caring for each other, sharing experiences, and growing together. There’s a reason that people who marry only for money rarely end up happy. Love at it’s best functions regardless of whether you have a lot of money or very little.

5. Acceptance

True, you can buy things that make you fit in-the latest cars, clothes, shoes, or electronics — but these things don’t represent true acceptance. If you really want your peers to accept you (beyond high school where a pair of shoes really does make you part of the in crowd), you’d do better to focus your energies on making yourself valuable to those around you. Being a good friend, a kind and helpful person, and someone who excels at what they do will go further in gaining acceptance than the stuff money can buy.

6. Health

Money can buy healthcare and medicine, but it cannot replace health once it’s lost. It’s far better to take preventative action such as watching what you eat, exercising, not smoking, and getting regular physicals than to rely on money to save you once your body has started to fail you. Money also can’t buy back your youth. No amount of money you make in the future will replace those days when your body could do anything easily and look good doing it. You can spend thousands on “treatments” to preserve your youth, but it’s an illusion. Once your youth is gone, no amount of money will get it back.

7. Success

Some people succeed by being slimy and paying/bribing their way to the top. But these are the exceptions, and I would hope you wouldn’t aspire to that. Success comes from hard work, applying your gifts in the best way possible, and paying your dues to move ahead in the world. There is very little that money can buy you to help you succeed. It might be able to buy you some training or equipment, but the majority of your success is determined by the work you put in, not the money you spend.

8. Talent

People are born with certain talents. Money can certainly nurture a talent. You can buy music lessons or coaching sessions to nurture your talents, but money cannot buy a talent. You can learn to do certain things well — I’ve learned to play the piano after years of lessons — but you can’t buy the true gift to do it well. Even after years of lessons, I don’t have the ability to make the piano truly sing, whereas others in my family have had that talent from birth.

9. Class/Manners

There are plenty of rich people who are rude and crude and plenty of poor people who demonstrate perfect manners and respect for others. And vice-versa. The amount of money you have doesn’t determine whether you behave well or poorly. You can’t buy manners and classy behavior; parents and family members who want to see their offspring behave well in society teach and practice it at all levels of society. Money doesn’t confer good behavior. Money can buy you entry into a better class position, but it cannot make you behave with class.

10. Peace

If money could buy peace, I think we’d be there by now. Think of the amount of money that governments have spent over the years in the name of “peace.” Has it worked? Nope. Peace isn’t something you buy. I think peace only comes from acting fairly, humanely, and treating others (people and countries) as we would want to be treated. And even then, it might not be possible. But for sure money won’t buy it.

Considering What’s Really Important

I’m not suggesting you give up the pursuit of money and go on some monastic quest for deeper meaning. It is important to manage your money well, to educate yourself about money, and earn enough to secure your financial future. However, it pays to stop and think every now and then about the things you would still have even if you didn’t have money. How much money you have doesn’t determine your family, your health, and your gifts and abilities. There are things that no amount of money can buy and it’s worthwhile to pursue them even as you worry about money. Money is important, but maybe it’s not the most important thing in the world.

Is there anything else money can’t buy? Share with us in the comments below!

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(Photo Credit: Flicker.com/Photo4jenifer)

Alcohol Is Killing More People Than Opioids

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alcohol is killing more

Alcohol is killing more adults in the United States than the opioid epidemic, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. The surge in alcohol-related deaths is new and, for many, it is surprising.

Deaths From Drinking

The opioid epidemic has gotten quite a bit of news coverage. However, it turns out the drinking epidemic may be more harmful to the U.S. population. Opioids kill around 72,000 people each year. Alcohol kills 88,000. All in all, drinking leads to 2.5 million years of potential life lost.

Over the past decade, the number of alcohol-related deaths has increased by 35 percent. Surprisingly, the demographic being affected by the alcohol epidemic is young women. Among this group, alcohol-related deaths rose by 67 percent, compared to only 27 percent for men.

Alcohol Is Killing More Women

The National Institute on Alcohol and Abuse and Alcoholism says women are more susceptible to these types of deaths because they generally weigh less than men. This makes women feel the effects of alcohol faster and those who drink excessively are prone to liver damage, heart disease, breast cancer, and possible pregnancy complications.

The Institute has also found that 9.3 percent of women said they drank alcohol while pregnant. Another 51.1. percent drank alcohol in general, compared to 61.3 percent of men. Twenty-two percent of those surveyed said they engaged in binge drinking in the past month, compared to 32.1 percent of men. Only 5.4 percent of female drinkers and 7.4 percent of men received help for an alcohol disorder.

Researchers did have some good news to uncover in the report though. Overall, teen drinking deaths are on the decline (down 16 percent in 10 years). However, deaths attributed to drinking for people between the ages of 45 and 64 have increased by 25 percent.

Who Cares?

Although it seems like women are drinking less than men, overall, they are still experiencing a higher rate of mortality associated with drinking. It is important to note that most of the alcohol deaths included in the report are not instantaneous. Many of them develop over time.

Location is also a factor. At the top of the list for most alcohol deaths is the District of Columbia, followed by Georgia and Alabama. Other states on the list are general places with lower alcohol control policies (Nevada, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Wyoming).

The bigger question here is, with alcohol-related deaths on the rise, why do Americans still feel that drinking in excess is acceptable? Psychologist Benjamin Miller noted, “Culturally, we’ve made it acceptable to drink but not to go out and shoot up heroin,” he said. “A lot of people will read this and say ‘What’s the problem?’”

Readers, what do you think about the latest report? Are you surprised alcohol-related deaths are on the rise?

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