Researchers fed mice a high-fat diet during the normal time they ate. Those mice gained about 20 percent of their weight over a six-week period. But, when the researchers fed other mice the same diet, but during the time that they would normally be sleeping, those mice put on 48 percent of their weight.

While these results need to be duplicated in a human study, the researchers believe that the results will be the same.

The popular slogan “calories in/calories out” to describe how you lose weight via a calorie deficit may be oversimplifying it a bit.

“How or why a person gains weight is very complicated, but it clearly is not just calories in and calories out,” says the study’s leader Fred Turek, professor of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University. “We think some factors are under circadian control. Better timing of meals, which would require a change in behavior, could be a critical element in slowing the ever-increasing incidence of obesity.”

More research is certainly needed. Not just because the findings need to be duplicated in a human study, but a similar study involving monkeys concluded that late-night snacking didn’t cause extra weight gain.

The difference between the studies may hold the key.

In the monkey study, only a portion of the monkeys’ food that they ate was eaten at the time that they should be sleeping. A bit like late-night snacking. But, in the mice study, their whole diet was consumed when the mice should have been sleeping.

That seems a bit extreme, since nobody I know eats breakfast, lunch and dinner between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

(via: MSNBC)

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Eating During Sleep Hours May Cause Weight Gain

How many times have you watched The Biggest Loser or Dr. Phil’s Ultimate Weight Loss Race or even Oprah’s Biggest Loser episode while eating? We eat more when we are focused on something else, not paying attention to what we are doing, and not paying attention to our bodies. Why do you choose to watch these shows in the first place? Do you relate to the contestants? Are you on a similar journey? Are you looking for new ideas to help you along the path? Do you consider these shows to be more family-oriented entertainment than other shows on during prime time and want to communicate a healthy lifestyle to your children? What are you thinking when you make the choice to watch these shows?

What are you thinking when you choose to eat while viewing? Should I first be asking if you are thinking or perhaps it’s become a habit to watch and munch? When you reach for something to eat is it to enhance the experience, to treat yourself, for dinner; what is your motivation? How do you decide what to eat? Are you eating apple slices, toast, pasta, or ice cream? Are you making the choice based on nutritional value or ease in preparation in the short commercial break?

Are you thinking about the habits that make up your day? How does this line up with your goals? Are you thinking about what you’re thinking? What are you thinking?!?

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

What are You Thinking When You Eat?

General consensus in the white-coat-wearing, research-driven medical community is that the “benefits” of gastric bypass surgery (rapid weight loss, compliments from strangers, etc.) only last about 18 months.  The limits on a patient last a lifetime.  For me, that is a good thing.

With dozens of failed diet attempts behind me, I know all too well that I need tight limits and diet guidelines or disaster (in the form of thicker neck, waist, fingers and toes) will follow.

So, almost 19 months after my gastric bypass surgery, I still try to eat as cautiously as possible with allowance for the occasional SENSIBLE splurge/indulgence every now and again.

It is interesting . . . eating now versus eating before surgery.  It sounds hokey, but I really don’t remember a lot of my eating life before surgery.  While I have likely just blacked out most my obsessive eating before surgery, I am pretty sure I’ve always loved go-to staples like protein bars, grilled chicken breast and reduced fat cheese. I know I was a snacker and I guess I still am!

I had a long and deep-yet-secretive love affair with Little Debbie and the “tos” gang . . . Frito’s, Cheetos, Doritos, Tostitos, etc., but I have replaced them in my snack life with reduced fat Triscuits, sugar-free South Beach Living snacks, and Revival Diet crackers.

Today, it is.  I’m proud to say that I’ve learned what a real and “healthy” portion looks like.  I can enjoy a few potato chips without circling back for the whole bag.  I count every calorie I eat (something I would have never dreamed of doing before) and I, frankly, prefer whole-wheat pitas to white bread and mustard to mayo and being in the 230s to being in the 530s.

The benefits of gastric bypass may be over, but the rules, and my diet, continue.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Guest Blog: It’s OK to Eat Post-Gastric Bypass