Diet & Weight Loss

A healthy weight is an important element of good health. How much you eat—and what you eat—play central roles in maintaining a healthy weight or losing weight. Exercise is the other key actor.

For years, low-fat diets were thought to be the best way to lose weight. A growing body of evidence shows that low-fat diets often don't work, in part because these diets often replace fat with easily digested carbohydrates.

Hundreds of diets have been created, many promising fast and permanent weight loss. Remember the cabbage soup diet? The grapefruit diet? How about the Hollywood 48 Hour Miracle diet, the caveman diet, the Subway diet, the apple cider vinegar diet, and a host of forgettable celebrity diets?

The truth is, almost any diet will work if it helps you take in fewer calories. Diets do this in two main ways:

• getting you to eat certain "good" foods and/or avoid "bad" ones
• changing how you behave and the ways you think or feel about food

The best diet for losing weight is one that is good for all parts of your body, from your brain to your toes, and not just for your waistline. It is also one you can live with for a long time. In other words, a diet that offers plenty of good tasting and healthy choices, banishes few foods, and doesn't require an extensive and expensive list of groceries or supplements.

One diet that fills the bill is a Mediterranean-type diet. Such a diet—and there are many variations—usually includes:

• several servings of fruits and vegetables a day
• whole-grain breads and cereals
• healthy fats from nuts, seeds, and olive oil
• lean protein from poultry, fish, and beans
• limited amounts of red meat
• moderate wine consumption with meals (no more than two glasses a day for men; no more than one a day for women

A Mediterranean-style diet is a flexible eating pattern. People who follow such diets tend to have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and other chronic conditions.

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Coffee: Love it or leave it?

A few cups may be good for you; too many may be harmful. What’s a java lover to do?

Coffee is part of many people’s daily routine, whether it’s the morning pick-me-up or the evening complement to a satisfying dinner. And it’s no wonder: a hot cup of brew is comforting and flavorful. Even better, new evidence continues to associate coffee with health benefits, such as a reduced risk of an early death, as we reported to you in February 2016.

“Our understanding of coffee is evolving. We’re learning more about it all the time,” says Dr. Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The benefits

Coffee comes from the seeds (or beans) of cherries that grow on the coffee tree. When you pour hot water over dried, roasted, ground coffee beans, you get the savory brown brew that so many people—54% of those 18 and older in the United States—drink daily.

The little beans aren’t just tasty; they have small amounts of magnesium, potassium, and niacin. They contain caffeine, which can reduce fatigue and improve alertness and concentration. Best of all, they are loaded with potent compounds such as chlorogenic acid and polyphenols, which have antioxidant properties that help prevent damage to your cells.

Dr. Rimm and his colleagues believe the combination of these compounds may delay the absorption of blood sugar, help cells draw sugar from the blood, increase metabolic rate, and help blood vessels contract and relax. Those actions, they suspect, account for why coffee is associated with lower blood pressure, slower rate of weight gain with age, and reduced risks for developing type 2 diabetes or dying from cardiovascular disease or neurological diseases. “Where we clearly see the greatest benefit is in the realm of diabetes and obesity,” says Dr. Rimm.

The risks

Dr. Rimm says health benefits are associated with an intake of one to five cups of coffee per day, and for many health conditions, it doesn’t matter much if the coffee has caffeine or not. However, in some people, too much caffeine—more than 300 milligrams per day—may lead to insomnia, nervousness, heart palpitations, and the jitters. Caffeine taken in after noontime is particularly likely to interfere with sleep. “If you’re drinking coffee and getting less sleep every night, you may be putting yourself at risk for developing other chronic conditions over the long term,” says Dr. Rimm. Too much caffeine may also raise blood pressure. The negative effects of caffeine go away when you stop consuming it.

Coffee’s other risks are oily substances called diterpenes, such as cafestol and kahweol. They make it into your cup if you don’t use a coffee filter (see “French press coffee”). “Five to eight cups a day of unfiltered coffee may actually raise your ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol,” says Dr. Rimm. If you must drink unfiltered coffee, Dr. Rimm recommends keeping an eye on your LDL cholesterol levels, in case they start to rise.

What you should do

The biggest risks of coffee come from what you may add to it: cream, sugar, or sugary syrup. These add saturated fat and empty calories to your diet, boost your blood sugar, and promote weight gain. So be careful about what you put into your cup.

Finally, keep your coffee habit in check: stick to no more than five cups per day to keep your coffee intake at a safe level. And if coffee isn’t already part of your daily routine, don’t worry about starting a love affair with the drink; there are plenty of other ways to stay healthy.

French press coffee: All the rage, but is it different? If your friends are showing off their French press coffeemakers, it’s because pressed coffee, long popular in Europe and other countries, has now become fashionable in the United States. You make pressed coffee by mixing boiling water and coarsely ground coffee beans in a small pitcher, letting it steep for a few minutes, and then pressing a mesh plunger from the top of the pitcher to the bottom to strain the liquid and trap the coffee grounds. Devotees say this type of coffee is more flavorful than coffee that’s filtered in an automatic drip coffeemaker. But is it healthier for you? “We don’t know; it’s never been studied that carefully, and it likely depends on the beans and the roasting process,” says Dr. Rimm. What we do know is that too much unfiltered coffee may raise “bad” LDL cholesterol, apparently because it contains certain harmful compounds that would otherwise be trapped by a filter. Best advice: Enjoy the trend, but limit intake to four cups per day.

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Drink more water to cut calories, fat, and sugar?

A study published online Feb. 22, 2016, by the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics examined the dietary habits of more than 18,000 adults and found that those who increased their daily intake of plain water reduced their total daily calorie intake as well as their consumption of saturated fat, sugar, sodium, and cholesterol.

On average, people drank about 4.2 cups of plain water daily, which accounted for about 30% of their total water consumption. The rest came from beverages like coffee, tea, and juice, and from food.

Participants’ average calorie intake was 2,157 calories, but 125 calories came from sugar-sweetened beverages and 432 calories from foods like desserts, pastries, and snacks. Yet those who increased their water intake by one, two, or three cups daily lowered their total daily calorie intake by 68 to 205 calories and their sodium intake by 78 to 235 milligrams (mg), according to the researchers. They also consumed 5 to 16 fewer grams of sugar and decreased their cholesterol intake by 7 to 21 mg. The changes were greatest among men.

The extra water appears to help in several ways, says researcher Dr. Ruopeng An of the University of Illinois. “Water helps increase feelings of satiety, which can help avoid overeating, as well as replace high-calorie beverages that have added sugar.” There are many ways to drink more water during the day, he adds. For instance, have a glass after every bathroom trip, when you wake up each morning, and with every meal.

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Healthy Eating

A healthy diet helps pave the way to a healthy heart and blood vessels, strong bones and muscles, a sharp mind, and so much more.

Confused about what constitutes a healthy diet? You aren't alone. Over the years, what seemed to be flip flops from medical research combined with the flood of diet books and diet plans based on little or no science have muddied the water. But a consensus has emerged about the basics, which are really pretty simple.

An important take-home message is to focus on the types of foods you eat and your overall dietary pattern, instead of on individual nutrients such as fat, dietary cholesterol, or specific vitamins. There are no single nutrients or vitamins that can make you healthy. Instead, there is a short list of key food types that together can dramatically reduce your risk for heart disease.

Eat more of these foods: fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish and seafood, vegetable oils, beans, nuts, and seeds.

Eat less of these foods: whole milk and other full-fat dairy foods, red meat, processed meats, highly refined and processed grains and sugars, and sugary drinks

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5 of the best exercises you can ever do

If you’re not an athlete or serious exerciser — and you just want to work out for your health or to fit in your clothes better — the gym scene can be intimidating. Just having to walk by treadmills, stationary bikes, and weight machines can be enough to make you head straight back home to the couch.

Yet some of the best physical activities for your body don’t require the gym or ask you to get fit enough to run a marathon. These “workouts” can do wonders for your health. They’ll help keep your weight under control, improve your balance and range of motion, strengthen your bones, protect your joints, prevent bladder control problems, and even ward off memory loss.

No matter your age or fitness level, these activities can help you get in shape and lower your risk for disease:

1. Swimming. You might call swimming the perfect workout. The buoyancy of the water supports your body and takes the strain off painful joints so you can move them more fluidly. “Swimming is good for individuals with arthritis because it’s less weight-bearing,” explains Dr. I-Min Lee, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
   
   
   Research has found that swimming can also improve your mental state and put you in a better mood. Water aerobics is another option. These classes help you burn calories and tone up.
2. Tai chi. This Chinese martial art that combines movement and relaxation is good for both body and mind. In fact, it’s been called “meditation in motion.” Tai chi is made up of a series of graceful movements, one transitioning smoothly into the next. Because the classes are offered at various levels, tai chi is accessible — and valuable — for people of all ages and fitness levels. “It’s particularly good for older people because balance is an important component of fitness, and balance is something we lose as we get older,” Dr. Lee says.
   
   
   Take a class to help you get started and learn the proper form. You can find tai chi programs at your local YMCA, health club, community center, or senior center.
3. Strength training. If you believe that strength training is a macho, brawny activity, think again. Lifting light weights won’t bulk up your muscles, but it will keep them strong. “If you don’t use muscles, they will lose their strength over time,” Dr. Lee says.
   
   
   Muscle also helps burn calories. “The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, so it’s easier to maintain your weight,” says Dr. Lee. Similar to other exercise, strength training may also help preserve brain function in later years.
   
   
   Before starting a weight training program, be sure to learn the proper form. Start light, with just one or two pounds. You should be able to lift the weights 10 times with ease. After a couple of weeks, increase that by a pound or two. If you can easily lift the weights through the entire range of motion more than 12 times, move up to slightly heavier weight.
4. Walking. Walking is simple, yet powerful. It can help you stay trim, improve cholesterol levels, strengthen bones, keep blood pressure in check, lift your mood, and lower your risk for a number of diseases (diabetes and heart disease, for example). A number of studies have shown that walking and other physical activities can even improve memory and resist age-related memory loss.
   
   
   All you need is a well-fitting and supportive pair of shoes. Start with walking for about 10 to15 minutes at a time. Over time, you can start to walk farther and faster, until you’re walking for 30 to 60 minutes on most days of the week.
5. Kegel exercises. These exercises won’t help you look better, but they do something just as important — strengthen the pelvic floor muscles that support the bladder. Strong pelvic floor muscles can go a long way toward preventing incontinence. While many women are familiar with Kegels, these exercises can benefit men too.
   
   
   To do a Kegel exercise correctly, squeeze the muscles you would use to prevent yourself from passing urine or gas. Hold the contraction for two or three seconds, then release. Make sure to completely relax your pelvic floor muscles after the contraction. Repeat 10 times. Try to do four to five sets a day.

Many of the things we do for fun (and work) count as exercise. Raking the yard counts as physical activity. So does ballroom dancing and playing with your kids or grandkids. As long as you’re doing some form of aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, and you include two days of strength training a week, you can consider yourself an “active” person.

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Apple's iPhone 8 - Coming in 2017

2017 will mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone and it's looking like Apple has something major planned to celebrate the occasion. We're more than a year away from the launch of the iPhone 8, but because of Apple's ambitious plans for the device, there are already an abundance of rumors hinting at the impressive features coming in the 2017 iPhone.

Early rumors suggest it's going to be a radical redesign, with an edge-to-edge display that does away with the top and bottom bezels where features like the Touch ID fingerprint sensor and the front-facing camera are housed. Instead, Touch ID and the camera may be built directly into the display.

With that design, the display would take up the entire front of the iPhone, but it isn't clear if the display will grow to fit the iPhone or the iPhone will be shrunken down to fit the display. The display itself is said to be flexible OLED rather than an LCD, allowing Apple to introduce a thinner device that consumes less power and offers a better display with higher contrast ratio and more true to life colors.

As for the body, rumors suggest Apple is finally going to move away from the aluminum used in the iPhone 5, 5s, 6, 6s, and SE, instead re-adopting a glass body that's similar to the body that was used in the iPhone 4. At least one iPhone model coming in 2017 will use a glass body, according to Apple supplier Catcher Technology.

Inside, the iPhone 8 is expected to have a 10-nanometer A11 chip that will be both faster and more efficient, plus rumors suggest it could also include features like long-range wireless charging and bio metric additions like iris or facial scanning.

The iPhone 8 is still under development and will likely launch in the fall of 2017, and in the months ahead of its launch, we'll undoubtedly learn more about the specs of the device. In 2016, Apple is expected to release the iPhone 7, a device with more modest design changes.

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Apple Not Able to Open Retail Stores in India Without Selling 30% Locally Sourced Goods

Apple's plan to open three Apple Store locations in India may fall through following a ruling from the Indian finance ministry that says Apple must sell locally sourced goods if it wants to open stores in the country, reports Reuters. 

In India, 30 percent of goods sold by foreign companies must be manufactured or produced in the country, a requirement Apple does not meet as its products are largely made in China. India last year exempted retailers selling state-of-the-art goods from the rule, prompting Apple to file a new application with the Indian government.

Apple was expected to receive an exemption from the rule, earning a recommendation from country's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, but the ministry of finance has decided Apple's products do not fall into the cutting-edge technology category. A source told Reuters Apple did not provide enough material to justify the exemption.

"They did ask for a waiver but didn't provide any material on record to justify it. The decision was taken only after a thorough examination of their application," the source said. 

The waiver is available only for investment in "state of the art" or "cutting-edge technology", he added.

Without the ability to open its own retail stores in the country, Apple will need to continue selling iOS and Mac devices in India through third-party distributors. Apple is eager to expand its business in India as it is a largely untapped market. Last quarter, Apple saw its revenue from India grow 56 percent, surpassing $1 billion. 

The ministry of finance's ruling comes just after Tim Cook spent several days in India, where he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other local business leaders, actors, politicians, and developers. 

Apple has also announced the launch of a Maps development center in Hyderabad and an iOS app and design accelerator in Bangalore.

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