Ready Meals Healthier than Celeb Chef Recipes, Study Finds

Wellness experts are always talking about how eating out is more damaging to your health. Studies show that takeaways and restaurant meals are higher in calories and lower in micronutrients such as iron, calcium, and vitamin C, so – by that logic – it must be healthier to cook at home, right? Not according to new research, which has found that it may be time to shelve your favourite cookbook, or you could develop serious health concerns.

For the study, the researchers looked into how “home-cooked” meals created by celebrity chefs compared to prepared meals sold in local supermarkets in terms of having an impact on your wellbeing. 100 supermarket meals (randomly chosen store-brands from the three biggest supermarket chains in the UK) were compared with 100 main meal recipes (with items from two or more food groups) created by UK-based TV chefs. The lucky cookbooks chosen were Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals and Ministry of Food, Lorraine Pascale’s Baking Made Easy, Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Everyday.

The researchers aimed to answer the question “Is one type of meal or the other healthier?” by looking at the nutritional content of the recipes and meals. This included an analysis of the total calories, protein, carbohydrates, sugar, sodium, fat, saturated fat, and fibre found in each dish, using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) dietary guidelines and the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidelines as nutritional standards for comparison. Although there are a few differences in the two sets of guidelines, they both give the breakdown of calorie percentages that should come from fat, protein, and carbohydrates, and set daily limits on salt, cholesterol, and saturated fat.

While you’d think that at least one dish would make the cut, not a single ready meal or recipe met all of the WHO guidelines. However, the more surprising result was that the chef-created recipes appeared to be less healthy than the store-bought meals. Typically, the recipes were higher in calories and lower in fibre, albeit meeting the FSA guideline of less than 0.6 grams of sodium per 100 grams of food, which the ready meals did not accomplish. Still, it’s important to bear in mind the researchers’ point that WHO standards are based on average intake over time rather than individual meals, and they only used these standards because of the lack of other international criteria on which to base their study.

So why does it matter? Wellness experts assert that celebrity chefs have a massive influence on the foods we eat, and are arguably contributing to the British obesity epidemic. Obesity can increase your risk of all kinds of chronic health concerns, such as heart disease and diabetes, to name a few. Does this mean you need to stock up on ready meals to ensure your wellbeing? Perish the thought! It’s important to take these study results with a grain of salt – but no more than that or you’ll go over the FSA guidelines! While the top TV chefs and their cookbooks may tend towards the unhealthy, this isn’t the case for all recipes and cookbooks.

Plus, ready meals are no nutritional superstars even if they appear to be healthier in some respects. The study researchers did not consider vitamins, minerals and additives in their evaluation, so the nutritional picture presented isn’t so complete. And, no, the answer isn’t to go out for dinner every night either, as another recent study has shown that eating away from home is linked with a higher calorie and fat intake, and lower micronutrient consumption. Just think about your meals, be they microwaved or created out of a recipe book, and make healthy choices.

Categories: Celebrity Chefs, fsa guidelines, health concerns, meals, ready meals, Recipes, Research, study, tv chefs, wellness experts

Are We Equipped to Help Adults with Autism?

While autism is a health concern you usually associate with children and young people, the disorder is likely to continue to affect sufferers’ wellbeing right through into adulthood. This is according to a wealth of wellness experts and researchers in the field, who note that the US healthcare system isn’t equipped to deal with the rising numbers of adults with autism. They add, however, that some individuals with autism may be able to surpass their non-autistic counterparts at university and beyond.

 

According to the US Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, it is estimated that one in every 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder. Autism researcher Paul Shattuck, from Washington University in St. Louis, notes that this means 45,000 to 50,000 kids with autism turn 18 each year. Dr. Joseph Cubells, director of medical and adult services at the Emory Autism Centre at Emory University in Atlanta, explains, ‘This is an impending health care or community care crisis. The services that are available vary from state to state, but often the resources just aren’t there.’

 

The National Alliance on Mental Illness states that, if you have an autism spectrum disorder, you are entitled to services from your public school until you reach the age of 22, at which point it is up to you and your family members to find educational or employment opportunities and appropriate living arrangements. However, wellness experts point out that the programmes for adults with autism are already thin on the ground, and this is likely to get worse as the increasing number of children who are being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders grow into adults.

 

The problem with treating or helping people with an autism spectrum disorder is that the needs change from person to person. Cubells clarifies, ‘We say autism as if it’s a single thing, much like we say cancer, but, within the general category of things we call cancer are brain tumours, lung tumours, pancreatic tumours, and each requires different treatments. Autism is very individual. It varies from one extreme where someone needs custodial care for their entire life to the other extreme where someone is a highly functional, successful person who may be regarded as being a little quirky. There are some common themes, but there’s really nothing that applies to every single person.’

 

With regards to higher education, if you’re on the higher-functioning end of the spectrum you may still be able to go to university, albeit still facing certain challenges. ‘There’s often a substantial mismatch between verbal skills and performance skills,’ Cubells says. ‘You can be highly intelligent and able to do complex math and abstract reasoning, but you don’t know how to ask someone out for coffee. Having to make friends, schedule meals, and get to class without help can be like hitting a brick wall for a lot of people on the spectrum. I often tell people with Asperger’s that they have to learn in words what most people learn intuitively.’

 

However, colleges do often provide services such as peer mentorship programmes to help ease people with autism into college life. Moreover, Shattuck and his colleagues have recently found that people on the autism spectrum are more likely to choose a science, technology or mathematics degree than people without autism, and these types of careers may be just the ones where autistic individuals find the most success. Cubells explains, ‘People on the spectrum can focus on the details. In jobs that would be hideously boring and tedious to most of us, like jobs where you spend hours alone, having a social deficit can be a real strength.’

Categories: adults, autism, autism spectrum, Disorder, nbsp, people, spectrum, spectrum disorder, university, wellness experts

Why Sleep is So Important to Your Health and Weight

While everyone is different when it comes to health and wellbeing, and different amounts of sleep work for different people, wellness experts assert that you need roughly seven to nine hours of sleep every night. According to researchers at the Sleep Disorder Clinic at Stanford University, any less sleep than this can lead to serious health concerns, such as heart disease. In fact, wellness experts believe that sleep deprivation is worse for your health than drinking or even smoking. If you have fewer than six hours of sleep a night, studies show that your risk of having a heart attack increases by 18% compared to those who get a regular seven to nine hours. However, that’s nothing compared to people who get fewer than five hours of sleep a night, as their heart attack risk is raised to 40%. Surely, it’s time to stand up and take notice of the importance of sleep.

 

During sleep, your body uses this time to repair itself. This is also when your stress levels drop, thus making it possible for your brain to become focused again. In fact, your sleeping habits have even been linked to your ability to maintain or lose weight, with regular, restful sleep correlating to better results. Plus, in the deepest stages of sleep, your body is better able to fight disease from the inside – much like some sort of health concern secret agent – and repair tissue damage and more. From all this, you can see that your body is a complex machine that needs constant care, with sleep acting as its own version of a reboot or self-overhaul. While you wouldn’t rush your mechanic when he or she is checking and fixing your vehicle, you do it to the “little mechanics” inside your own body.

 

Let’s unpack some of the more interesting and pleasant side effects of a good night’s sleep; weight loss. Research has shown that sleep deprivation causes your levels of ghrelin to rise and your levels of leptin to drop. In English? Leptin is a hormone produced by your body to make you feel satisfied or full after you eat. The less sleep you get, the lower your level of leptin which, in turn, means you feel less satisfied when you eat the next day and will end up eating more. The other sleep-food hormone your body produces is ghrelin, which is designed to stimulate your appetite. Therefore, not getting enough sleep packs a one-two punch to your waistline, with low leptin levels making you feel less full when you eat, and high ghrelin levels causing your body to get hungry, and consequently eat, more often.

 

Now we’ve covered the importance of sleep – although I could go on – it’s now time to look at how you go about getting enough sleep. If you have deadlines or an overly busy schedule, sometimes it’s not possible to get your seven to nine hours. When this occurs, try to remove any unnecessary obligations until you get your sleep routine back on track and, failing a seven- to nine-hour stretch, try to take naps when you can. If getting to sleep is difficult for you, you might find it easier to nod off if you’ve exercised during the day (as long as you avoid doing this less than three hours before bedtime). A bedtime ritual, such as having warm milk with honey, a warm bath or reading for a little bit before bed, can also help you get your body ready for sleep. Finally, make sure your room is the right temperature and well ventilated. Sweet dreams!

Categories: body, health, Heart Attack, hours, levels, Repairs, sleep, sleep deprivation, weight, wellness experts

How to Lower Your Cholesterol without Compromising on Taste

You might want to take care of your wellbeing and cut cholesterol from your diet, but how do you do it and still enjoy your food? Does a low-cholesterol diet doesn’t have to be all oat bran and tofu? Of course not! There are plenty of simple substitutions you can make in your diet that bolster your wellness and still keep you in a state of foodie bliss.

1. Instead of sprinkling croutons, go for walnuts: In carbohydrates, such as croutons, you’ll find a lot of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as bad cholesterol. Walnuts, on the other hand, are high in polyunsaturated fat, which works to lower your LDL levels while giving your HDL levels (aka your levels of “good” cholesterol” a hearty boost. So the next time you have a salad, why not go a little bit nutty?

2. Replace cocktail hour with wine time: While research does suggest that a small amount of alcohol can cause your HDL cholesterol levels to rise slightly – which is a good thing – you won’t reap any benefits if you’re knocking back the mojitos and margaritas. Cocktails and mixed drinks with fruit juice contain carbohydrates which, as we’ve previously mentioned, is not great for your cholesterol levels. However, switching to red wine can give you all the benefits you could want for your wellbeing. Aside from having just 10% of the carbohydrate content of a margarita, red wine is packed with antioxidants known as flavonoids, which are believed to lower your LDL and boost your HDL. Still, alcohol can, in large quantities do real damage to your health – as I’m sure you’re aware – so stick to the American Heart Association’s guidelines of two glasses a day for men or one glass for women.

3. Swap cheese and crackers for edamame and nuts: Cheese and crackers are a popular pre- or post-dinner snack, but they are sky-high in saturated fat, which is one of the prime culprits behind high cholesterol. For all the foodie goodness of cheese and crackers but none of the guilt, try almonds and edamame. Almonds have been shown to lower LDL, while edamame – the boiled baby soybeans that are a common appetite whetter in Japanese restaurants – is extremely low in the saturated fat department. Although evidence is conflicting, some wellness experts assert that the soy protein found in edamame actively lowers your LDL. If you’re thinking Japanese soybeans sound a little complicated for an appetiser, all you need to do is buy them frozen, dump them into boiling water, and drain after 5 minutes.

4. Drizzle salads with balsamic vinegar: Any diet wellness or weight loss article you read will probably tell you to avoid salad dressing, or at least have it on the side. However, you don’t need to live a life of leafy dryness. Try drizzling your salads with balsamic vinegar, lemon juice or a nice shallot and grapefruit dressing.

5. Banish butter and bring out the margarine: There’s more than a third of your recommended daily value of saturated fat in just one tablespoon of butter (which, if you’re interested, is seven grams). Moreover, a single tablespoon of butter contains 10% of your daily value for dietary cholesterol. True, butter isn’t as harmful for your health as wellness experts once thought. However, it remains one of the main sources of high cholesterol and atherosclerosis, so switch your butter with a vegetable-oil-based spread. Anything containing olive oil will help you to replace a bad fat with a good fat. With that in mind, use olive oil (or white wine vinegar) when cooking instead of butter.

Categories: balsamic vinegar, butter, cholesterol, cholesterol levels, hdl cholesterol, high cholesterol, ldl cholesterol, levels, olive oil, Red Wine, Substitutions, wellness experts

Experts Hold Hope in Alzheimer’s Research Even As Drugs Fail

Even as the looming impact of Alzheimer’s disease on society becomes a more and more dire health concern, wellness experts are still optimistic about the potential of research into the disease. Leading scientists on early detection and treatment for Alzheimer’s have even said that they are on the verge of substantial advances, with a large slate of Alzheimer’s drugs undergoing human trials.

 

A spokesman for the American Academy of Neurology Dr. John C. Morris, a professor and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, commented, ‘There has never been a period in which we had more potential drugs to alter the disease course of Alzheimer’s. We have lots of highly promising drug candidates.’ The main focus of these drugs is amyloid, which is a protein that clumps in your brain when your wellbeing has been affected by Alzheimer’s.

 

According to William H. Thies, chief medical and science officer for the Alzheimer’s Association, ‘Many scientists believe eliminating that accumulation will eliminate Alzheimer’s. We’ve seen amyloid accumulation as one of the key markers in the development of Alzheimer’s. It’s really the first step in taking the basic science of Alzheimer’s and using it to develop therapeutics.’ However, of the first anti-amyloid drugs to be tested in humans, three have failed to produce results. None of the AN-1792, Flurizan or tramiprosate treatments did anything to significantly improve the symptoms of people with Alzheimer’s.

 

Morris reasoned that these drugs were tested on people in the advanced stages of the disease, and so they might prove to be effective if you take them before your Alzheimer’s progresses too far. The problem with this justification, however, it that it means we need a way to detect Alzheimer’s disease early in its development or even to flag people who are at risk for developing the disease. Both Morris and Thies allow that, so far, the only means doctors have of diagnosing Alzheimer’s is wait for symptoms to appear, and by then the damage has already been done.

 

Nonetheless, hope is still at hand as scans and tests are in development that could lead to the early detection of Alzheimer’s. Morris noted that researchers are identifying substances that bind with amyloid deposits and make them visible to imaging scans, as well as discovering genetic and biological markers that could indicate that a person is at increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s. He asserted, ‘The excitement in the field is, yes, new imaging technology, and studies of amyloid beta in the spinal fluid of elderly and middle-age people do seem to identify people who, if they continue to live, will develop dementia. This will set the stage for targeting people at high risk of developing dementia if they live long enough.’

 

Thies weighed in, ‘There’s no doubt in my mind that, as an effective therapy emerges that slows downthe course of the disease, we will find the marker for it. The two are linked almost arm-in-arm and will develop together. Advances in one will drag the other along.’ But what about those wellness experts who question the direction of research? Given the failures of early trials, many are concerned that efforts have been too tightly focused on eliminating amyloid from the brain. Thies responded, ‘People who work in the field raise the question, “Should we be doing all this amyloid work?” but it’s the most mature of the ideas so you have to follow it through.’ He added, ‘With the aging of our population, we are going to have an immense increase in Alzheimer’s disease over the next 40 years. If we don’t deal with this, it could bankrupt our government and wreck our health-care system.’

Categories: alzheimer, Alzheimer's Disease, amyloid, Amyloid Drugs, Disease, drugs, early detection, people, Research, wellness experts