If you mention weight loss it seems a million “tips” or “pieces of advice” come flying out of the woodwork. There’s many of them out there like, “Don’t eat after such and such time,” “Stop eating bread and carbs,” or “Eat eight tiny meals a day.” Most of this can be overturned and found to be another empty promise of how to lose weight. One myth that seems to be pushed is about how water has the power to flush out fat from the body. Sadly, it seems this may be just another myth.

The myth is often stated that, “drinking eight glasses of water a day flushes out fat.” Truth is, that’s simply not true.

“…There’s no magic about drinking water,” says Sue Gebo, RD, MPH, an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Gebo explains that water cannot flush away fat, that is just a hopeful myth. While water can not perform this trick, a Virginia Tech University study explains how this myth may have started.

The study found that people who drank 16 ounces of water prior to eating a meal actually consumed 75 to 95 fewer calories than the control group. Both groups in the study were on prescribed low-calorie diets and on average the water drinkers lost more weight, 4.5 pounds more than the non-water drinkers.
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Intolerance or sensitivity is a hot topic in the food world these days. Food packaging is clearly in on the trend as it is common to see food labeled “gluten free,” “lactose free,” or “contains wheat.” What has brought about this trend? Why are so many people unable to eat certain types of food? It is possible that testing for these allegies and intolerances is flawed, and it is leading to overdiagnosis.

There are many types of food testing available today. Some are very unorthodox and come to conclusions that seem very hard to swallow, like eating green peppers may cause bloating and lethargy, lemons trigger headaches, or chicken may act like poison in your body.

Other non-traditional practitioners may diagnose food sensitivities by analyzing hair, assessing muscle strength, or by performing a test that assesses the body’s “energy pathways.” From these tests, patients are told what foods may be causing their troubling symptoms. Sometimes these tests are concluding that serious issues like irritable bowel syndrome, autoimmune disease, and arthritis are being caused by particular foods.

These are tall claims and allergists and gastroenterologists are questioning these methods. Most allergists and gastroenterologists agree that food intolerances do occur from time to time, but they also agree that the tests being marketed have no scientific basis. The tests are prone to false positives and lead people to eliminate foods from their diets unnecessarily.

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Tax day is here, and if you are one of many who haven’t yet completed your forms, stress can attack your bowels with unwelcome enthusiasm. Whether you suffer from constipation, diarrhea, bloating, or cramps, having irritable bowels is not fun, especially as the most stressful deadline of the year draws near.

The following suggestions won’t help you with your taxes, but they will help you relax during this tough time of year so your digestive system doesn’t go haywire due to stress and anxiety.

Persevere

Winston Churchill said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” The time to procrastinate is over. Sit down, be diligent, and get the job done. You will start to feel better after each box and line you fill out, so get to it. However tedious and painful doing taxes feels, keep going. The confidence you will earn knowing that you are getting it done will relax your agitated digestive system.
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Let’s get personal, shall we?

The other day while driving back to the office from lunch, I felt the urge to use the restroom. And for some reason in that moment, I realized I do so a lot, perhaps more than the average person.

I’ve always thought that was because I’m typically well hydrated, drinking the recommended 6-8 glasses of water a day. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was frequenting the loo too often. Gasp. So, I started to wonder how many times a healthy person should go to the bathroom a day. Our resident dietitian Mary Hartley, RD gladly weighed in.
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About a year ago, I attended a cooking demonstration for a book called Dropping Acid: The Reflux Cookbook & Cure. A colleague invited me to the event after learning that I avoided coffee because it gives me heartburn.

I hoped the demonstration would give me some new ideas about what I could eat that wouldn’t give me heartburn. I had first been diagnosed with heartburn during college, after experiencing chest pain so severe it woke me up in the middle of the night. I vaguely knew that I shouldn’t eat citrus, drink excessively or eat spicy foods, but typically found it easier to pop a few Tums rather than think too much about my diet.

As Master Chef Marc Bauer demonstrated his recipes, Dr. Jamie Koufman, the principal author of Dropping Acid, also described the prevalence of acid reflux and some of its accompanying symptoms. As she spoke, I realized that I suffered from a number of other symptoms related to acid reflux in addition to heartburn: chronic hoarseness and coughing, the feeling of something stuck in my throat, and a voice that was easily fatigued. After the presentation, I was eager to speak with Dr. Koufman more, and requested an interview. After hearing about my symptoms and the sound of my raspy voice, she suggested I come to her office for treatment so that I could write my story from a patient’s perspective. I was so happy about the project that I nearly burst into tears while telling my mother about it on the phone later that night.

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