Healthy happy you.
Who knew that our fat cells harbor the secret to controlling our appetite? Produced in fat cells, the hormone leptin helps control our appetites and metabolism. Author of The Leptin Diet, Byron J. Richards believes that mastering this fat hormone means preventing weight gain and obesity. His eating plan is not a diet, but rather a lifestyle based on "eating in harmony with leptin." Think of Read more
I have come across the word "leptin" a lot recently and instead of just skimming over it and knowing it is vaguely related to weight, I thought I'd do a bit more research. Leptin (from the Greek word leptos meaning thin) is a hormone that helps control appetite and metabolism. In a normal weight person, when body fat increases, leptin levels rise which signal the brain that it needs to speed Read more
Are you getting a restful night of sleep? Do you wake up and feel energized? If the answer is "No," it could be causing other problems besides making you tired. Scientists found that people getting 4 or less hours of sleep have a rise in the hormone ghrelin, that is related to stimulating the appetite, which in turn causes them to eat. At the same time, they have lower levels of the hormone Read more
We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. Whether you admit you need help nodding off or are still in denial about the major suitcases under your eyes, chances are you could use an intervention: a full two-thirds of Americans say they have trouble getting enough shut-eye at least once a week. That’s pretty harrowing, considering that sleep is absolutely Read more
You know you're getting into the holiday spirit when the movie Elf is on repeat in your DVD player. If this is the case, let's just hope you aren't influenced by Will Ferrell's bad dietary habits, which include copious amounts of candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup! We may not be guzzling down bottles of syrup, but when confronted with tables full of cookies, candies, chocolates, and Read more
We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. Shape turned to personal trainer and strength coach Joe Dowdell for the answer! Q. What's more important: getting enough sleep or fitting in an early-morning or late-night workout? A. To change your body composition in the least amount of time, cleaning up your diet and getting seven to eight hours of quality sleep are Read more
So you've really been trying hard to get in daily exercise and eat as healthy as possible but yet you're still not losing weight like you thought you would be. Don't give up, your new routine may not be at fault. WebMD outlined some interesting (and lesser known) reasons you may be gaining and not losing weight, and they may surprise you. Here are highlights: You Might Be Gaining Weight Because Read more
You eat a balanced diet and exercise, and you lose weight. But once you reach your goal, you exchange trips to the gym for pork lo mein on the couch, and end up gaining all the weight back (and then some). You're not alone. In fact studies show that two-thirds of dieters regain more weight within four or five years than they initially lost. Even celebs aren't immune to the grasps of Read more
No matter how much the Corn Refiners Association tries to convince us that high-fructose corn syrup is healthy, I'm not buying it. Now I have another reason to avoid it: new findings have linked high-fructose corn syrup to high blood pressure, aka hypertension. In the past 20 years alone, Americans have increased fructose intake by 30 percent, and that increase tracks closely to the rise in Read more
The age of nonfat foods seems to be drawing to a close as the benefits of certain fats, particularly omega-3 fatty acids, make the headlines almost daily. Found mostly in cold-water fish like salmon (here's my new favorite wild salmon recipe), omega-3s do some wonderful things for your body. Here are five of them. Keeps the aches and pains at bay: Recent studies at University of Pittsburgh Read more
