Nutrition on the Tour de France

Just wanted to say Hi!
It's been a while! I recently moved and started a new internship and am having trouble finding some free time!
I miss reading your blogs, and miss blogging... but I hope to find some balance soon!
Hope you're enjoying your summers!!


It lasts three weeks, covers over 3500km, and is arguably the world's most physiologically demanding sporting event....

The 172 cyclists (including one Canadian!) that participated in the 97th Tour de France this year traveled through 3 countries, rode an average of 182km (114 miles) a day over the 20 'stages' at an average of 40km (25 miles) an hour,while climbing 10 mountains or racing against the clock in individual time trials.

This effort has been described as roughly the equivalent of running a marathon almost every day for 3 weeks. In the mountains, they climb a vertical distance equal to three Mount Everests!

Below, Robbie Ventura, a professional US cyclists, describes nutrition during the 7 hour, 140mile Stage 6 of the Tour:

Cyclists will burn over 5000 calories.
Each hour, they'll aim to eat about 400 calories and drink 3 water bottles!





A 1988 study found that cyclists met half their caloric needs for the day while on the bike... Pretty impressive!
A good chunk of their calorie and carbohydrate intake came from liquids.

Cyclists are given feed bags at the start and middle of each stage. These bags contain easy-to-eat foods- sports bars and gels, fruit, small sandwiches, Coke cans.

Here's sport physiologist (currently with team RadioShack) Dr. Allen Lam with his recipe for a 'real-food' addition to the riders' feedbags: Rice Cakes?!





The cyclists in the study mentioned above were also pretty good and meeting their total daily caloric needs- while they spent about 6100 calories a day, they were able to eat about 6000 a day- not a small feat given that they're on they bikes 7-8 hours a day, and then have to deal with a lack of hunger that results from strenuous activity. The average Tour rider loses about 10lbs from an already small frame.

One easier way to take in those calories after a day on the bike is to drink them. Dr. Allen Lim explains the cyclists' recovery routine, which includes drinking 700-800 calories!





A post-race meal for Lance Armstrong:

Lance Armstrong's Post Race Meal in the Car -- powered by livestrong.com

Critical Obesity- Guest Post

I've been meaning to blog about 'critical obesity' forever- but just haven't been able to find time. However, a classmate of mine, Nicole Bergen, wrote a great article on the topic, for her journalism class. It's such a well-written piece that offers a great overview of the subject, and I'm so happy she gave me permission to post part of it for you to read.

Great job, Nicki!

Sara can hardly remember a time when she wasn’t concerned about her weight. Since the age of 16, she has experimented with Weight Watchers, appetite-suppressant pills, restrictive diets and arduous exercise routines. The now-24-year-old teacher consulted a number of medical doctors for weight advice, but grew increasingly disheartened with their approach. “They were putting it on me that I was lazy or that I got this way because I never exercise or have unhealthy habits, “ Sara said. “They told me what an optimal [weight] goal would be, but didn’t offer any new insight on how to get there.”

Dr. Arya Sharma, a Professor of Medicine and obesity researcher at the University of Alberta agrees that the medical profession may not be adequately prepared to offer constructive weight-loss advice. “Not all health care providers are trained to assess and treat obesity,” he said.

The current Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines for Obesity define overweight and obese according to a patient’s height and weight, using a measurement known as BMI (body mass index). For most overweight patients, the guidelines emphasize weight loss through diet and exercise therapy. Sara said that she spent only about 10 minutes discussing healthy lifestyle choices with her doctor.

This type of approach is almost certain to fail as a weight-loss treatment. Studies from a variety of regions and populations repeatedly log success rates of less than five per cent. In a 2007 edition of the

Journal of the American Dietetic Association, the combined results from 80 scientific reports concluded that advice-based weight-loss attempts produced minimal results, both initially and in the long-term.

A little unsettling for a nation with no shortage of overweight and obese people trying to lose weight.

Lucy Aphramor, a dietitian and obesity researcher in the UK, questioned the ethics of recommending weight-loss treatments that have such resounding failure rates. In 2005 she wrote “The reality is that we do not have an effective weight-loss treatment to recommend.”

Societal demonization of fatness may be fuelling an obsession with thinness. Motivation to lose weight has extended beyond health concerns, to a pursuit for social acceptance. And, according to Sharma, this is an important distinction. It usually takes only a small amount of weight loss to see significant health benefits; the process of achieving a desired body type, however, requires more effort.

“Managing expectations is a big part of making weight goals,” Sharma said. “It is never a good idea to use optimism as motivation or set someone up for failure.”

When Sara’s doctor provided unhelpful advice, she joined a gym and began weekly sessions with a nutritionist and personal trainer. “They probably spent about three hours catering a diet to my specific needs,” she said. “I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, and when I first approached them they didn’t know a lot about it. They did some research and developed a good understanding.” Sara is confident in the advice that she receives at the gym, and has met some of her goals.

After working in the weight-loss industry, Mabel Pang-Bishop has changed her views about weight-loss treatment. Pang-Bishop sold meal supplements for a commercial weight-loss program for two years, and then realized that she had become part of the problem. “We marketed a program that was very restrictive and claimed to be a safer alternative,” she said. “But the program is structured for people to fail. There were some successes, but mostly yo-yoing. Our customers saw themselves as failures in their weight-loss goals and therefore failures in life.”

Now, Pang-Bishop is a graduate student at the Ryerson School of Nutrition, studying an emerging field she calls ‘critical obesity studies.’ A critical perspective on obesity promotes health at every size, and looks beyond diet and exercise to broader, social determinants of health and social justice. “I knew there was something more to weight loss than energy in and energy out,” she said. “Why do we accept ideas without questioning them? It is important to be aware that there’s more out there.”

The Mandometer: A plate that tells you not to eat so fast!

According to Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating: Why we eat more than we think, studies have shown that it takes about 20 minutes for our brain to tell us we're full.

The problem?

We eat way too fast... and can pack in a lot of calories before those 20 minutes are up.
Most of us rarely even feel full-and, as a result, have lost the ability to recognize when we've eaten enough.

Wansink refers to a study that found it takes us, on average, 11 minutes to eat a fast-food lunch, if we're eating alone (13 minutes at a workplace cafeteria).

The solution?

Slow down!

OR

Get The Mandometer!

This gadget, developed by researchers in England, is basically a scale, connected to a computer, on which you put your plate.
Throughout the meal, the user is asked to input how full they feel, re-educating them to become aware of these fullness cues, and measures the speed at which the plate is emptying. It compares eating speed with a "normal" speed, and will nag the user to slow down if they're eating too fast.

The Mandometer has been successfully used in eating disorder clinics, usually instructing anorexic or bulimic patients to eat more quickly.

The only problem I can see with this gadget (apart from it getting kind of annoying!) is that it doesn't know what's on your plate- mostly vegetables, or all junk food...

But interesting idea- I wonder if it'll ever become mainstream in helping people struggling with weight loss...

Check out this short video to see the Mandometer in action.

It's my Blogiversary: Celebrating with cottonseed oil and some refelction!

My blog turns 2 today... I can't believe it... they grow up so fast!
I looked it up, and the traditional 2-year anniversary gift is cotton. So....

Did you know that Cottonseed oil accounts for only 5-6% of the American fat and oil market?
It's very low in the omega 3 fatty acid, making it a very stable frying oil at high temperatures. For this reason, and because it has a bland flavour, it's used often as a frying oil by the food industry.
Who knew?

In the last two years, what I've learned is that, both in the field of nutrition, and in my own life, there will always be surprises. There's a line from the movie the Truman Show when, in response to why Truman hadn't figured out he was an actor on a set, his "creator" responds:
"Because we always accept the reality of our surroundings, without question".

Well, this blog has allowed me to question... and what I learned has surprised me:

Caffeinated beverages, including coffee, can be used to meet your fluid requirements. It's not a major diuretic as we once thought.

Whole wheat is NOT a whole grain (in Canada).

A low carb, high fat diet may be what we should be recommending: it can control blood sugar and improve cholesterol level.

A grapefruit a day isn't as healthy as it sounds.

That cool, hip coffee shop in your neighbourhood may actually be a Starbucks, in disguise!

Exercise may not be the answer to weight loss.

Just because my dad is a runner, thin, and a vegetarian, doesn't mean he won't have a heart attack.

So... I continue to question and not just accept, I continue to try to keep an open-mind, and continue to share what I learn...

Thanks for learning with me, and teaching me, over these last 2 years!

Weight Around the World

Did you know that this week is Healthy Weight Week?
Yup!
January 17-23rd is a week to celebrate healthy weight- whatever your healthy weight is for you- and healthy, diet-free, eating.
Today is an extra special day too because it's also 'Get Rid of Fad Diets' day!

Our society is definitely too obsessed with achieving a specific weight- which is why we need reminders like these 'holidays' (there's also 'No Diet Day' May 6th!)-
but looks like we're not alone. Reader's Digest polled 16, 000 people in 16 countries about weight and diet.

This is what they found:

Who's Trying to Lose Weight?

Finland
83% of Finns said they've tried to lose weight. The US and Canada aren't far behind....














The Country Where Wives Most Want Their Husbands to Lose Weight

USA
51% (more than half!) of married American women wish their husbands were thinner.


The Country Where Husbands Most Want Their Wives to Lose Weight

India
48% of Indian men said they're dissatisfied with the shape of their spouse (46% of Indian women say the same of their husbands though!).

In the States, 47 % of married American men wanted their wives to lose weight.


What Country Feels the Most Pressure to be Thin?

Brazil













What Country Pops the Most Diet Pills?

China
While Brazilians' pill popping doubled between 2001-2005, China takes this one with 37% of Chinese admitting to taking weight loss pills.
19% of American said they have taken weight loss pills.

Click Here for the full article.

Exercise won't make you thin... will it make you fat?!

We learn that the more we exercise, the skinnier we'll be... so we go to the gym- 45 million Americans have a gym membership- or try to get out and do something... and feel guilty if we don't.
The media and shows like the Biggest Loser focus on exercise for weight loss... and it seems to work, right? Not quite.

Time magazine published a great article this past summer: Why Exercise Won't Make you Thin.

The article quotes the Chair in Diabetes and Metabolism at Louisiana State University, Eric Ravussin, as saying:
"In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless."

Pretty shocking statement, eh?

The article outlines a study that found that children that were more active ate more- 100 calories more than they had burned.

It mentions another study that found that overweight people burned more calories a day than 'normal'-weight people.

Hmm. Can that be right?

Just a few days ago, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published its report. They found that obesity rates in the States have plateaued in the last decade. That said, we know that we're bigger now than we ever were- 68% of Americans are overweight and 34% are obese!
We've been led to believe this is happening because we're lazy and sedentary. But maybe that's not it at all.

A 2008 study found that the number of calories we spend a day hasn't changes since the 1980s! But we're fatter than we were in the 80s.... hmmmm.
What's crazier is that the same study found that our caloric expenditure is not significantly different that people in the "Third World"! But we know we're bigger than people in developing countries!

Another study looked at the effect of exercise on weight:
464 post-menopausal women exercised under supervision for 72, 136 or 192 minutes per week, at moderate intensity, on a treadmill or bike, for 6 months.

While fitness improved for those that exercised longer, weight was a different story:

The 72mins/week group lost about 1.3kg,
The 136mins/week group lost about 1.9kg, and
the 192 mins/week group? Same as the 72mins/wk group- they only lost 1.3kg!

Why?!

Most likely, they were compensating for the extra exercise by eating more.

The Time article points to different studies showing that when we exercise more, we tend to eat more... too much more.

Remember that picture of Bill Clinton stopping in at McDonald's after a jog?

What's surprising is how fast those calories add on.

Let's say you go for a 6km (3.75 mile) run at a decent 5.5 min/km (9 min/mile) pace (and you weigh 140lbs). You burn about 430 calories.

It's a hot day.. you rehydrate by drinking half your Gatorade bottle (500 mL). On the way home, you stop by Starbucks and grab a medium cafe latte with skim and a low-fat muffin... you earned it, right?

You've already consumed 570 calories- 140 calories MORE than you spent! And, chances are, you'll eat more when you go home and you'll probably be more sedentary the rest of the day.

But Doesn't Muscle Burn More Calories Than Fat?

We've learned that exercise builds muscle and that the more muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn. True... but it's not as much as we thought.
1 lbs fat burns 2 calories ; 1 lbs muscle burns 6 calories.
So if you work out like crazy and manage to convert 10lbs of fat to muscle (most of us will never achieve this, btw), you'll only burn an extra 40 calories a day- that's only 4 jelly beans- worth of calories. Not much.

Is it better to stay at home and not exercise? Is exercise making us fat?

Well... exercise is still good for us.
It's good for our bones, it's good for our heart, our lungs, our circulatory system. Exercise increases our good cholesterol, protecting us from strokes and heart attacks. It can help prevent certain types of cancers. It's a mood-elevator, makes us feel better, more alert.

If weight loss is a goal, exercise can be the instigator to eating better... and, in that way can help with weight loss. However, it's the calories we consume (or don't) that will make a difference in our weight... not the exercise.

Excercise won't cause you to gain weight, per se....but the extra calories you eat as a result of exercise will.
We need to be very aware that exercise isn't an excuse to eat foods we normally wouldn't eat (or in quantities we normally wouldn't). It's also not an excuse to be lazy the rest of the day.

Diet Vs. Exercise

If you need more evidence, check out the clip below: Diet vs. Exercise.
What he says is true: "You can't out-train a bad diet"
(btw- I don't agree at all with his statement that "cardio is a joke"- as mentioned above, there are many benefit to all kinds of exercise).

Drinking yourself fat

Augh... disgusting, eh?
But yeah for the NY Health Department for being pioneers in health promotion!

New Yorkers will all start seeing these ads in the next year as well.

Remember that milk can fatten you up too though...

If you currently drink 2 cups 2% milk a day, did you know that if you switched to 1%, you would lose 4 lbs a year?

And that if you switched to skim milk, you would lose just under 8lbs a year?

Don't drink yourself fat...

Keep eating to keep the economy afloat

Controversial...
According to this obesity economist (since when is this a profession?!), Americans' expanding waistlines are helping boost the economy- in the short-term anyway.



Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Fun Theory

This is great!



A pilot study in Sweden found that when sedentary people took the stairs for 12 weeks,
their:

• VO2 max (used to measure aerobic capacity) increased by 8.6%,
• Mortality risk decreased by 15%,
• Body fat decreased by 1.7%,
• Waist circumference decreased by 1.8%,
• Diastolic blood pressure decreased by 2.3%, and
• LDL (lousy) cholesterol decreased by 3.9%!
  

Wow.

Visit thefuntheory.com for some more fun.

Chew gum, snack less?

The study:

115 men and women who regularly chew gum visited a lab at Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center on 2 occasions:

On the first, they were given a lunch and then stayed for 3 hours, chewing Extra® sugar-free gum for 15 minutes, once an hour.

Hunger and cravings were assessed with the help of questionnaires and at the end of the 3 hours, subjects were given a variety of snacks to choose from.

The next visit was exactly the same, but they weren't given chewing gum.

The result:

When subjects chewed gum, they reported significantly less feelings of hunger and cravings for sweet foods and felt significantly less sleepy.

Gum chewers also ate significantly less calories after the 3 hours: 40 calorie less but, more interesting to the researchers, 60 calories less from sweet snacks.

According to Paula Geiselman, Chief of women's health and eating behaviour and smoking cessation at Pennington, this is the first study to look at the nutrient composition of snack food choices following gum chewing.

What I think:

First of all, 40 or 60 calories doesn't sound like a lot. In fact, it's the equivalent of only 4-6 jelly beans. Nonetheless, that could lead to a 4-6 lbs weight loss a year if it was kept up daily.

However, I wonder if these study findings be the same if the subjects weren't regular gum chewers?

Maybe regular gum chewers that can't chew gum for 3 hours need to keep their mouths occupied and eat more (and have more cravings) whereas people that don't normally chew gum wouldn't have the same problem... In that case, wouldn't it be better to tell people never to start chewing gum in the first place?!

Measuring this only on 2 controlled occasions i very limiting too. For example, the subjects obviously knew the difference between their 2 visits was the gum chewing.

Clearly this is something that needs to be studied way more before any recommendations can be made.

Oh. Did I mention that the study was funded by the Wrigley's Science Institute? Hm.

Want to lose weight? Don't rely on chewing gum!

Preventing a second, or a first, heart attack: Part 2

The obvious:

If you smoke, quit. Smoking is the single leading cause of heart disease: smokers are 2-3 times more likely to die from a coronary heart disease than non-smokers. Smoking disrupts your heart rhythm, decreases your "Healthy" HDL cholesterol (that gets rid of artery-clogging plaque) and damages your arteries. Smoking also doubles your risk of a second heart attack. Stay away from second-hand smoke too!

Lose weight, if you need to. Lots of studies have shown that BMIs over 25 increase the risk of dying young, mainly from heart disease. Click here to calculate your BMI. An alternative to the BMI is to measure your waist measurement. The more fat you have around your middle, the greater your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and heart disease. Men should keep their waists circumferences (measured at the belly button) to less than 37 inches or 94 cm, women to less than 31 inches or 80cm. What's your waist circumference?

Exercise regularly. Regular exercise will go a long way in preventing a second heart attack, even if you don't lose weight. Exercise strengthens your heart, increases your "Healthy" HDL cholesterol, decreases your "Lousy" LDL cholesterol (that clogs up your arteries) and also can help prevent depression often associated with a heart attack. A study found that people that have had a heart attack and that increased their physical activity levels were nearly twice as likely to be alive after 7 years compared to those that stayed inactive.

The American Heart Association recommends a minimum of 30 minutes of walking or other moderately vigorous exercise at least five times each week, or 20 minutes of vigorous exercise at least three times each week, along with activities to increase or maintain muscular strength twice a week as well as daily activities like gardening and housework.

Not everybody can tolerate exerise the same way after a heart attack. Talk to your doctor who will probably ask you to do a stress test- your heart is monitored while walking on a treadmill or riding a stationnary bike. Many people participate in a cardiac rehabilitation program after their first heart attack where the heart is monitred during exercise to ensure the intensity is safe.

Supersized USA

Population: 293,027,571
Percent of population overweight, male/female: 72/70%
Percent of population obese, male/female: 32/38%
Percent of population over the age of 20 with diabetes: 8.8%
Percent of dieting men/women on any given day: 25/45%
Percent of all dieters who will regain their lost weight within 1-5 years: 95%
Caloric intake available daily per person: 3,774 calories
Annual alcohol consumption per person (alcohol content only): 9.6 quarts (~9 liters)
Cigarette consumption per person per year: 2,255
Sugar and sweetener available per person per year: 158 lbs
Soft drink consumption per person per year: 54.8 gallons (~207 liters)
Meat consumption per person per year: 275 lbs
McDonald's restaurants: 13,491
Liposuction surgeries per year: 400,000
Gastric bypass surgeries per year: 150,000
Percent paid by taxpayers for obesity-related medical costs: 50%
Annual spending on dieting and diet-related products: $40 billion

Taken directly from Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel

Diet Myth #2: Eating at night results in weight gain

No!

A review of the research indicates that eating late dinners or snacking at night will not lead you to gain weight faster. Rather, it's the total number of calories you eat in a day that matters... it makes no difference when those calories are eaten.

A 2006 study published in Obesity Research observed rhesus monkeys (supposedly an excellent model for humans) fed a typical North American diet for a year. The monkeys' eating patterns varied greatly- they ate between 6-64% of their calories at night. The monkeys that ate the majority of their calories at night did not gain more weight than those that ate more during the day.
Human studies have found the same thing.

That said, we do recommend you spread your calories throughout the day:
Eat breakfast to rev up your metabolism and break that fast and eat every 4-6 hours to keep your body and brain fueled and to regulate your appetite. If you do get hungry at night, stick with portion-controlled snacks of less than 200 calories- ie. small bowl of cereal, fruit, air-popped popcorn, yogourt, whole grain toast with peanut butter etc.

If you find yourself restricting your food intake all day and eating the majority of your calories at night, talk to your doctor. Night-Eating Syndrome, although not officially defined as an eating disorder yet, is a form of binge eating and is becoming more understood by the medical community.
Symptoms include:

• Little or no appetite for breakfast.
• Eating more than half of one's daily food intake after dinner. This behaviour continues over a period of at least three months.
• Feeling tense, anxious, upset or guilty while eating.
• Having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
• Eating continually in the evening rather than bingeing in relatively short episodes.
• Experiencing guilt and shame from eating rather than enjoyment.

Today is International No Diet Day!

The International No Diet Day, started by British feminist Mary Evans Young in 1992, is a celebration of body acceptance and body shape diversity and a day dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers of dieting.


The Body Image Coalition recommends:

• Celebrate your natural size, eat well and be physically active every day
• Pay others a compliment based on something other than weight-related qualities
• Don't compare your body to others
• Avoid fad diets and eat healthily
• Help young people understand that the image of beauty portrayed in the media are not normal.

Sounds good to me!

Disappointment with diets shouldn't come as a surprise. I've blogged about the lemonade diet recently. There's the cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet, the Subway diet, the Scarsdale diet (promising 1 lbs weight loss a day!), the cookie diet. The list goes on. The fact is, you'll lose weight if you follow these diets... at least for a little while. However, the more restrictive the diet, the more hungry you'll be and the more you'll crave once-favourite foods you've given up. You'll inevitably "cheat", leading to feelings of failure and hopelessness and, in turn, you'll most likely give up on all weight loss strategies, including the good ones like exercise.

A healthy sustainable diet with lots of choices, few (if any) restrictions and no 'special foods' that's not only good for your waistline but for your heart, bones, brain, colon and psyche is what will help you meet your goals and keep you happy and healthy for a lifetime.

Diet Myth #1: Fat makes you fat

It's almost summer, time to get bikini-ready, and the perfect time to debunk some of those diet myths!

Nope. Dietary fat does not make you fat.

- Randomized weight loss studies show little net weight change after a year of following a low fat diet- although people on the low fat diets generally lost 2-4 lbs after a few weeks, they also tended to regain that weight while continuing with the diet.

- In European country-to-country surveys , women eating the least amount of fat were the most likely to be obese while those with the higher fat intake were least likely to be so. (For European men, there was no relation between fat intake and obesity).

- In the United States, the gradual reduction of the fat content of the average diet from 40% of total calories to about 33% has been accompanied by a gradual increase in the average weight and a dramatic increase in obesity rates.

Bottom line:

The fat in your diet doesn't make you fat. You gain weight when you eat more calories (whether coming from carbs, protein or fat) than you burn off.
The goal is to cut back on bad fats (saturated and trans fats) and increase good fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats).

If you're already on a low fat diet, think about replacing some of those carbs with unsaturated fats.

An added benefit of replacing saturated fats and carbs in your diet with unsaturated fats is that your risk of coronary heart disease and stroke will decrease by :

- Lowering your "lousy" LDL cholesterol, - Preventing the increase of your triglycerides (fat in your blood),
- Reducing development of erratic heartbeats, the main cause of sudden cardiac death,
- Reducing the tendency for arterial blood clots to form.

Warning: Açai Berry Scam

Have you heard of the açai (pronounced "ah-sigh-EE") berries?
They come from South America, look like grapes and have been touted as a superfruit. You can buy açai juice (selling for $40 a quart! ), juice powder, tablets, smoothies, as well as the whole fruit.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is warning the public to stay away from signing up for online "free samples" of açai products since thousands of consumers have had their credit cards charged and have had trouble stopping recurrent charges.


The Claims:

You'll lose weight, flatten your stomach, have more energy, cleanse your colon, improve your digestion, enhance sexual desire, improve heart health, improve your skin, sleep better, reduce your cholesterol levels.

The Science:

There's none. There's no evidence that the berries live up to any of their claims.
A study comparing antioxidant-rich beverages was published in Feb 2008 and found that pomegranate juice, red wine, Concord grape juice, blueberry juice and black cherry juice all had higher levels of antioxidants than açai juice (however, the açai juice had more antioxidants than orange juice, iced tea and apple juice).

The Controversy:

Oprah's famous doctor guest, Dr. Mehmet Oz, included açai, along with tomatoes, blueberries and broccoli as healthy foods. A guest on Rachel Ray also talked about the açai beverages.
As a result, ads and websites such as oprahsamazingdiet.com and rachaelray.drozdiet-acaiberry.com, have been created claiming Oprah and Rachel Ray have endorsed the products and steering visitors to fake blogs of people that have supposedly lost a lot of weight on these products. Free samples are also offered .

Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Rachel Ray have publicly disassociated themselves from the açai sites (and taking legal action).

The Best Business Bureau (BBB) have received thousands of complaints from consumers that have had their credit cards charged (up to almost 200$) after ordering a "free" trial of açai supplements.

Protect Yourself:

The CSPI suggests that if, despite the lack of scientific evidence that the product had any benefit, you still want to try to get a "free" trial of an açai product, check the company on the BBB site first. Click "check out a Business or Charity" and enter the information you have on the company before signing up for anything. For example, FX supplements that markets Acai Berry Maxx received an F rating from the BBB's online report due to the fact that the company received 213 complaints in the last 12 months.
Other açai sites that have received an F rating include FWM Laboratories (runs www.acaiberrydetox.com ), Pure Acai Berry Pro (Advanced Wellness Research), AcaiBurn, Acai Berry Maxx (FX Supplements) and SFL Nutrition.

Furthermore, use a prepaid credit card with a low credit limit or a virtual credit card that shields your real credit card number.

The misleading and deceptive açai health claims are currently being investigated and the fraudulent companies have yet to be caught... so beware.

Note that at least one brand, Açai Berry Select, contains 200 mg added caffeine per capsule-the equivalent of 2 cups of coffee- and they recommend you take 2 capsules a day. Remember that women in childbearing years should aim for less than 300mg caffeine a day as high caffeine intakes have been linked to miscarriages. Something else to consider.

How Many Calories Do We Need?

There are two schools of thought when it comes to counting calories for weight loss:

1. Don't waste your time and focus on the quality of your diet.

2. It's an essential tool for weight loss.
As one doctor specializing in weight loss I worked for put it: "before you buy something it's a good idea to know how much is in your bank account, how much you make a month and how much it costs. As far as weight goes, it's currency is Calories and therefore it's a good idea to know how many Calories you burn in a daytime, how many you've had and how many you want".

I go back and forth on this one. However, if you agree with the latter school of thought, the following will help you:

How to determine how many calories you consume?

1. Measure your serving size using measuring cups and spoons.

2. Read the label: look at the serving size and the calories for that serving size.

3. Calculate and write down the calories in your serving.

For example: If you ate 4 cookies and the label on the cookie bag indicates that there are 100 calories for 2 cookies, you ate (2 x 100 calories) 200 calories.

You can use the online program Calorie King to determine calories in foods without labels (ie. produce).

How to determine how many calories you need?

Of course, caloric needs vary widely, depending on factors like gender, age, height, weight and physical activity.
Dietitians use various equations to calculate caloric needs and in 2005, the Journal of the American Dietetics Association published a review of the various equations used (Harris-Benedict, Mifflin-St Jeor, Owen, WHO/FAO/UNU). The Mifflin -St Jeor equation was found to be the best (for both obese and non-obese individuals), predicting Resting Metabolic Rate within 10% of the measured value.

The Mifflin-St Jeor equation below estimates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR: the minimum number of calories your body needs to maintain your weight at complete rest). You must multiply the value obtained by an Activity Factor.

Remember that this equation is an estimate only of your caloric needs since many factors affect metabolic rate. It is meant only for healthy, non-pregnant adults.

BMR =
Male: 10×weight + 6.25×height - 5×age + 5
Female: 10×weight + 6.25×height - 5×age - 161

Weight: in kilograms. If you know your weight in pounds, divide by 2.2 to obtain to get your weight in kilograms.

Height: in centimeters; if you know your height in inches, multiply by 2.54 to get your height in centimeters.

Click here for an online BMR calculator that uses the Miffline-St Jeor equation. You must multiply your BMR with the appropriate Activity Factor to determine your daily caloric needs for weight maintenance:

Activity factor:

If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : 1.2

If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): 1.375

If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): 1.55

If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): 1.725

If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job or intense training, ie. twice a day): 1.9

Is weight loss a goal for you?

For a reasonable and healthy weight loss of 1lbs a week, subtract your total daily caloric needs measured above by 500 calories:

Daily caloric recommendation for weight loss: (BMR x Activity Factor) - 500

Remember that a woman should never consume less than 1200 calories a day and a man should never consume less than 1500 calories a day.