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3 tricks to kick a junk food addiction

 
iStockphoto.com
iStockphoto.com
Published Jan. 22, 2014

Not long ago we saw a headline that perked up our spirits. It read, "Doughnut chain's next-year forecast falls short." Healthier days ahead, right? Wrong. Further reading revealed the fried-dough seller's profits actually grew by 34 percent. It was just that financial forecasters thought they would do even better. People, wake up! This stuff is killing you! • "But, Doc," you say, "I have to have it. Just one." We know how hard it is to go cold turkey, and we want to help you get over your junk food addiction as fast as you can. Try these three tricks.

Trick No. 1: Schedule snacks two to three hours after each meal. Then you won't get blindsided by fat and sugar cravings — that's what a fast-food addiction is, after all. You can block those urges by eating (instead of a doughnut) plain, lowfat Greek yogurt with fresh or frozen fruit (no sugar added) or some lean protein, such as sliced turkey. This keeps blood sugar levels steady, easing cravings and helping you lose weight.

Trick No. 2: Become a label reader. Stay clear of anything with added sugars or syrups, trans or saturated fats. And beware of power/energy/nutrition bars and energy drinks: They may contain taurine, sugar, excess fats (even good fats have 9 calories per gram) and sometimes alcohol.

Trick No. 3: Choose smart sweets. Dried (prunes) or fresh fruit (cherries) give you the sugar boost you're looking for and benefit your bones and cardiovascular system. Nuts (walnuts, almonds) are loaded with protein and healthy, appetite-satisfying fats.

TUMMY-TAMING MEDS TAKE TOLL ON B-12

If you're taking a proton pump inhibitor to quell chronic heartburn or an H2RA (histamine 2 receptor antagonist) to treat a peptic ulcer, you may be losing B-12, a vitamin essential for making healthy blood and nerve cells, DNA and preventing megaloblastic anemia. And if you take either of those meds plus the oral diabetes medication metformin, look out: 10 percent to 30 percent of folks on metformin alone become B-12 deficient.

This new health alert is the result of a recent study that found taking PPIs and H2RAs for two or more years can cause a serious B-12 deficiency, which can lead to irreversible brain damage. This happens in part because B-12 bound in food is released by hydrochloric acid and gastric protease, which are suppressed by those meds.

The good news? A blood test can identify a deficiency. If you're taking PPIs or H2RAs, ask your doc to check. If you're deficient, you'll take a daily B-12 supplement and maybe get a booster shot. And you can help reverse the deficiency (the recommended daily allowance is 2.4 mcg for anyone 14 or older) by eating fish or skinless poultry (turkey has 48 mcg per serving). We don't recommend some shellfish, especially clams (even though they have 84 mcg per serving), because of other concerns, but that's another column.

WATCH YOUR WAISTLINE, MEN

A new study from Stanford University found that the larger a man's waist circumference and the higher his body mass index, the lower his semen level, and therefore his sperm count. Men with a healthy BMI (somewhere between 18.5 to 24.9) typically ejaculate about 3.3 ml of sperm-containing semen. Men with a higher BMI produce less semen for sperm to swim in — around 2.8 ml.

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So, to make the pool (and your sperm count) bigger, here's what you need to do:

1. Eat 300-500 fewer calories a day. That equals about 1 American beer (145), a chocolate chip cookie (160) and one cup of sugary cereal (110) with ½ cup of whole milk (75). And eliminate the Five Food Felons.

2. Get sweaty! The most-effective, least-expensive way is a walking routine with interval training. So put on your walking shoes (10,000 steps a day is your goal) and walk 100 steps a minute for 10-15 minutes; then go for 2.5 minutes of intense walking at 130 steps per minute. Repeat as often as you can.

AVOIDING PEANUTS BACKFIRES FOR MOMS

Peanuts is a beloved comic strip, but in many day-care centers and school cafeterias across North America, the legume is strictly taboo. That's because peanut allergies have tripled since 1997. (Around 1.4 percent of kids in the United States are allergic to them.) But what accounts for that dramatic increase? Well, perhaps, like Charlie Brown repeatedly trying to kick a football that Lucy pulls away, it's because we've been fooled into trying to kick the allergy by doing exactly what makes it more likely to occur.

Although in 2008 the American Academy of Pediatrics rescinded its recommendation to avoid peanuts while pregnant (saying there was no evidence to support the fear that eating them could trigger a peanut allergy in a child), pregnant women have continued to avoid eating peanuts. And that has made children more, not less, likely to become allergic to them!

A new study shows that if women who are not allergic to peanuts or tree nuts eat them five or more times a month while pregnant, their child is far less likely to develop the allergy. It appears some kind of immunotherapy is at work and exposing the fetus to potential allergens is a way to help the baby become allergy-resistant.

So moms-to-be take note: Peanuts are inexpensive and a great source of protein (with 7 grams per ounce), plus fiber, niacin, manganese, magnesium, vitamin E, folate, copper and phosphorus. And while walnuts are the only nut loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids, peanuts do have other good-for-you, unsaturated fats.