Maybe I’ve missed something somewhere but have to admit to being a bit mystified by the news item highlighting a report which suggests that daily calorie counts may be underestimated (2,000 women 2,500 men).  Nooooooooo – that explains then why we’re all so thin ???

The draft report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition says that the recommended daily intake could be upped by 16% and provides a much more accurate assessment of how energy can be burnt off through physical activity.
Now, to be fair, it is reported that the panel stresses that people should only eat more if they exercise more, given rising levels of obesity. You don’t say…………..

To be fair, there’s probably something in the way this is reported and the BBC article  didn’t provide a link to the actual report. 
If you’re really keen you can read the full report here.

Posted under topics

An article in the New Scientist (15 July 2009) “The Calorie Delusion: Why Food Labels are Wrong” says that according to a small band of researchers, using the information on food labels to estimate calorie intake could be a very bad idea. They argue that calorie estimates on food labels are based on flawed and outdated science, and provide misleading information on how much energy your body will actually get from a food. Some food labels may over or underestimate this figure by as much as 25 per cent, enough to foil any diet, and over time even lead to obesity.

The problem appears to be based on the method used to calculate calories – burning small samples of food in controlled conditions and measuring the amount of energy released in the form of heat – whereas our bodies don’t incinerate food, they digest it and digestion – from chewing food to moving it through the gut and chemically breaking it down along the way – takes a different amount of energy for different foods.

Read the full article in the New Scientist

Posted under topics

As runners we know how important it is to keep hydrated both during and after exercise. I bring my bottle to work and fill it, and refill it, from my office’s water cooler on a daily basis. I may be filling it up at home from my kitchen tap from now on after reading this article on the BBC Health site “Health warning over water coolers“

Posted under topics

“Low-fat, low-carb or high-protein? The kind of diet doesn’t matter, scientists say. All that really counts is cutting calories and sticking with it”

“Limiting the calories you consume and burning off more calories with exercise is key..” 

It’s what we already know but still interesting article on research from the Harvard School of Public Health Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Read the article here

Posted under topics

I keep coming across articles at the moment about sleep and how important it is and how a lack of it can be detrimental to both health and training. Here are a few of the more interesting bits I have come across.

• Sleep, sport and health
• Sleep deprivation can hinder sports performance
• Exercise and sleep
• Exercise prevents cancer only with sleep

I struggle to sleep solidly for 7 or 8 hours, often waking at least once during the night, so I’m not convinced that the hours that I do sleep are good quality sleep. One of my new strategies just now is to try to cut down on the amount of time I spend on the computer in the evenings especially just before bed as I think often the problem is that my mind is still working overtime and not shutting down when I go to bed.  I was therefore very interested to come across this bit of research today on computer use before sleep.

• Bedtime computer use stops sleep

Finally, at the end of the article on Sleep, Sport and Health there were some useful tips on improving your sleep patterns

Posted under topics

Bananas are soooo good for you. I am now so convinced, having recently read an article detailing all the benefits, that I am trying to eat one every day. I haven’t always been fussed on them, especially if they’re very ripe, but I am now a convert.

bananas

FYI here are just some of the benefits: Read More…

Posted under topics