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Should the government regulate choices that impact our health?

Published March 27, 2012 | By Lisa Nelson, RD

I was just reviewing the results of a The Harris Poll. The Harris Poll is administered by Harris Interactive. Harris Interactive is a leading custom market research firm that works with a variety of industries, including health care, technology, public affairs, energy, and telecommunications.

The poll I reviewed is focused on how American’s feel about legislation to regulate healthy living, such as taxes of sugar sweetened beverages or the banning of smoking in restaurants.

This particular Harris Poll included 2,211 United States adults over the age of 18-years-old. The poll was conducted between February 27-29, 2012.

I’m curious to know if you agree with the majority. Here are some of the findings:
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Posted in Heart Health | Tagged childhood vaccinations, Harris Poll, healthy living, legislation, smoking, smoking ban, soda tax, soft drinks

Weight Loss Pills: Do they work?

Published March 21, 2012 | By Lisa Nelson, RD

I’ve been asked many times about the safety of taking a weight loss supplement (i.e. diet pill) when living with high blood pressure or taking blood pressure medication.

My answer doesn’t vary:

“I do not recommend diet pills – whether you have high blood pressure or not.

Many weight loss supplements contain “undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients”, frequently in levels exceeding FDA recommendations. These ingredients include drugs not approved in the U.S. These substances impact blood pressure and anti-seizure medications, diuretics, along with drugs linked to suicide, depression, and cancer.”

Not only can weight loss supplements lead to negative health consequences, they don’t typically work.
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Posted in Lose Weight, Lower Blood Pressure | Tagged blood pressure, diet pills, high blood pressure, weight loss pills, weight loss supplements

Are You Eating Enough Potassium?

Published March 14, 2012 | By Lisa Nelson, RD

If you have high blood pressure, one of the most important nutrients to increase in your diet is potassium.

If you’ve looked into the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) you’ll see that it is extremely high in fruits and vegetables. This is partly due to fruits and vegetables being rich sources of potassium . . . among other beneficial nutrients.

It’s recommended by the Institute of Medicine that adults consume 4700 milligrams (mg) of potassium daily. However, the average adult intake is typically around 2300 mg.

Here are the fruits and vegetables that are the best sources potassium:

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Posted in Heart Health | Tagged dash diet, high potassium foods, potassium, sources of potassium

Diet Soda Linked to Vascular Complications

Published March 1, 2012 | By Lisa Nelson, RD

At one time did you make a switch from regular soda to diet as a “positive” change for your health?

I know I made the switch back in about 1993. Fortunately, I don’t drink soda daily and even cut it completely out of my diet for months at a time, but based on the more research that comes out I need to just eliminate it permanently.

According to Hannah Gardener and fellow researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, regular soft drink consumption and moderate intake of diet soft drinks are potentially linked to a higher risk of vascular events.

Gardener and fellow researchers analyzed 2,564 patients in the Northern Manhattan Study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study was designed to determine stroke incidence, risk factors, and prognosis in a multi-ethnic urban population.
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Posted in Heart Health | Tagged diet pop, diet soda, diet soft drinks, pop, soda, soda pop, soft drinks, vascular, vascular complications

Eating the Same Foods Can Help You Lose Weight

Published February 29, 2012 | By Lisa Nelson, RD

Do we have too many options when it comes to food? According to a study published August 2011 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, too many options may be one reason pounds are packed on.

On the flip side, the study found eating the same food over and over lead to boredom and a decrease in caloric intake.

Food Boredom is a Good Thing

Research indicates that repeat exposure to a particular food leads to disinterest. The response is called habituation and can lead to a decrease in caloric intake in the short term.

In the U.S. we are blessed with a wide variety of choices and all we have to do is enter a grocery store. The problem with variety doesn’t necessarily apply to having access to a wide variety of fruits and vegetables – not too many people can say they are overweight because they ate too many greens! – the problem comes from the overwhelming abundance of low-fat, low-nutrient options.

There is a ‘food addiction hypothesis’ that proposes some people overeat because they are not sensitive to normal habituation and require even more of a food to trigger disinterest.

There has not been a lot of research in this area to determine if the habituation process is different between individuals of a healthy weight versus those who are overweight.

The study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition aimed to study the long-term habituation in obese and non-obese women.

Habituation Equals Fewer Calories

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Posted in Lose Weight | Tagged eat the same thing, eating, food, food boredom, lose weight, weight loss

High Dietary Salt Equals High Blood Pressure

Published February 24, 2012 | By Lisa Nelson, RD

Earlier this month (February 2012), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report showing that nine out of ten adults eat too much salt daily.

This excess salt is not the salt you are adding with the salt shaker. The high salt diet comes from processed foods and restaurant meals.

A diet high in sodium (salt) leads to high blood pressure. This equals an increased risk for developing heart disease and having a stroke.

According to CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden, heart disease and strokes are responsible for the deaths of more than 800,000 Americans annually and add approximately $273 BILLION dollars to health care costs.

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend salt be limited to no more than 2300 milligrams per day. This recommendation may be even lower (no more than 1500 milligrams per day) depending on your ethnicity, age, and medical history.
The average adult in the U.S. consumes more than 3300 milligrams of salt each day.

10 Foods Contributing the Most Sodium
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Posted in Heart Health | Tagged blood pressure, BP, decrease sodium intake, heart, Heart Disease, salt, sodium, stroke

Should the government regulate choices that impact our health?

Weight Loss Pills: Do they work?

Are You Eating Enough Potassium?

Diet Soda Linked to Vascular Complications

Eating the Same Foods Can Help You Lose Weight

High Dietary Salt Equals High Blood Pressure

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