BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month and one of the main messages is to encourage people to eat well for your heart.

A diet high in fruits and vegetables can help you maintain a healthy weight, as well as reduce the risk for many of the leading causes of death, including heart disease. Although some people only eat fruits and vegetables, the CDC reports that in every state, not enough people are eating fruits and vegetables. Only about one in three adults meet the recommendations for fruit intake and about one in four get the recommended vegetables.

A diet high in fruits and vegetables is important for maintaining a healthy weight because they are high in fiber and water. It also reduces the risk of leading causes of death, such as heart disease, some cancers, stroke, chronic lower respiratory disease and diabetes.

Some strategies to improve your diet include asking if a restaurant will not add salt and making sure to read your food labels. There is hidden sodium in many processed foods. Replacing salty processed foods with fruits and vegetables is helpful for adults and children. A healthy diet includes two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables each day. Eating right doesnt mean giving up pizza and burgers but striking a balance is key.

Fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sodium and also contain phytochemicals. There are over 10,000 known phytochemicals in the plant-based foods we eat. Phytochemical simply means plant-chemical and the color of your food indicates which one is present.

Blue and purple fruits and vegetables drive their color from anthocyanin. That acts as a powerful antioxidant to protect cells from damage. Many red and pink fruits and veggies are also rich in anthocyanins but the darker the blue or purple hue, the higher the phytochemical concentration.

Anthocyanins can also make blood vessels healthier, reverse short-term memory loss associated with aging, improve motor skills, and help prevent bacteria from sticking to cells (such as the lining of the urinary tract.) Some examples of blue and purple foods to look out for include blueberries, blackberries, eggplant, figs, juneberries, plums, prunes, purple grapes, raisins.

If youd like more tips on how to lower your blood pressure, click here. You can also find more information on how to reduce sodium by searching the WIAT website with the keyword sodium.

One recipe to try: blueberry muffin smoothie adapted from the Iowa Girl Eats website. You can find the original recipe here.

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Simple diet changes can make your life heart healthy during National Hypertension Education Month - WIAT 42

Q: I gave up sugary sodas and got used to drinking diet ones. Now I hear they're not good for my health either. What's up with that? -- Kaylie G., Tampa, Fla.

A: Good question. Pop is everywhere: There's Iggy Pop, pop-up fly balls ... and soda pop. But no matter what you think about those popular parts of American life, only one is linked to health hazards: That's soda pop -- both sweetened and diet.

Drinking sugar-added beverages is a known risk for obesity, and drinking one to two cans daily puts you at a 26 percent greater risk of Type 2 diabetes.

An observational study in the journal Stroke reveals that artificially sweetened beverages may be a health risk, too: Researchers found that those who drink at least one diet soda daily are 2.9 times more likely to have an ischemic stroke and 3 times more likely to develop dementia than abstainers.

Now, it may be that folks who are overweight and have Type 2 diabetes or heart disease give up sugary sodas for diet versions and then develop health problems -- like stroke and dementia -- that are repercussions of their chronic medical conditions. So, the researchers want to make it clear: In this study, the association of diet soda to dementia and stroke doesn't mean that it causes those conditions or that giving it up can help you avoid them. Instead it's a red flag, saying "Hey, what's going on with your health?"

So if you're a diet-soda drinker, it's time to assess your health and stress levels. Make a plan to get in 10,000 steps a day (which dispels stress, burns fat and tones muscle), eat 5 to 9 servings of produce daily (to fight heart disease and diabetes) and rely on water, coffee and tea for your beverages.

Q: I have a two-year grant to study in the states, so I brought my family from Mexico City. We've been here only for about six months, and my boys, 10 and 15, are gaining weight. How can I help them avoid that? -- Maria G., Austin, Texas

A: Welcome! We're sorry, but crossing the border puts you at certain health risks. The fast-food, quick-stop, drive-thru American diet packs on pounds. But there are solutions.

First, teach your kids (you do this, too) to look on ingredients labels for added sugars and added syrups. They're in almost all processed foods and sugary drinks.

High-fructose corn syrup is one of the biggest sugar polluters, and the corn it's derived from is generally genetically modified, which means it's usually been treated with the pesticide glyphosate (brand name Round-Up). New research has shown possible links from GMO foods and glyphosate-treated crops to endocrine disruption, organ damage and birth defects.

Second, trans fats used in snack foods, margarine, packaged baked goods and fried fast foods, and saturated fats found in processed and red meats and full-fat dairy, are found throughout our food chain. They'll pack on pounds and are bad for your heart and other organ systems. Instead, go for monounsaturated fats, like extra-virgin olive oil and healthy fats found in nuts, avocados and polyunsaturated oils.

Lastly, say "no" to grains that aren't 100 percent whole. Whole grains help you avoid weight gain, insulin resistance and diabetes, while refined grains, such as white bread or rice, are associated with those health hazards.

It will take attention to detail for a while, but you'll get it down. Then you and your family will have an easier time controlling your weight -- and you'll have more energy, mental focus and a happier outlook.

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of "The Dr. Oz Show," and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Medical Officer at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. Submit your health questions at http://www.youdocsdaily@sharecare.com.

Read the rest here:
Oz: A popped question -- what makes diet sodas unhealthy? - Pueblo Chieftain

Remember when Atkins was all the rage? Then it was replaced with the South Beach Diet, and later Weight Watchers ("I LOVE Bread")? Fad diets come and gobut the latest two most popular ones beg an important question about American eating habits: why do our attempts at healthy eating involve such extremes when #balance might just be the best thing for your health and fitness routine?

ICYMI, paleo dietingis pretty popular. And though it might feel so 2014, the caveman craze is far from over. In fact, a recent Grubhub studyfound that paleo orders increased by 370 percent in 2016, making it the most popular dietary-specific choice for the year. (And Grubhub isn't the only company to find that paleo is currently king in the dieting world.) To no one's surprise,raw diet orders came in second place, witha 92-percent increase last year. Apparently, when it comes to ordering healthy food, the country is split between ordering high-fat, meat-heavy dishes, and 100-percent produce-fueled food. Call me a traditionalist, but both of these seem a bit extreme.

How is it possible that the top two diets in America are basically total opposites?

The appeal behind paleo and raw dieting boils down to two things, according to Susan Pierce Thompson, Ph.D., adjunct associate professor of cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, eating psychology specialist, and author of Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free.One, the fact that both have scientific narratives ("People are really attracted to knowing the 'why' underneath what they're doing," says Thompson), regardless of whether there's truth in these narratives or not.

And people really do feel better when they're on these diets. About 60 percent of the typical American diet comes from ultra-processed foods, says Thompson. Both the paleo diet and raw diets ditch this ultra-processed food and replace it with whole foodswhich just happens to be the basic recipe for healthy eating success. "If you just stop eating processed foods and starteating more vegetables, you'll have that feel-good benefit regardless of the diet you're on," says Thompson. But because people switch to raw dieting or paleo and dramatically increase their vegetable and whole food consumption and cut the processed crap, the narrative of both diets gets passed along with raving reviews.

Problem is, "diets" are hard to stick with, and lots of experts suggest the80/20 rulefor healthy eating longevity. So why are people picking paleo and rawarguably the two most extreme diets on the spectrumin order to put their healthy eating knowledge to use?

"The extreme approach works really well for some people," says Thompson. You likely fall into one of two personality groups: the abstainers or the moderators. The former works better with clear boundaries and "off-limits" items, while the latter finds that the occasional indulgence actually strengthens their resolve and heightens pleasure, according to Gretchen Reuben, the author behind the concept. "An abstainer will actually do better with an extreme kind of diet," says Thompson. "A moderator will do better if they avoid a strict diet."

There's one time when abstinenceand extreme dietingdoes work better for both types of people, and that's when addiction comes into play."If you have someone whose brain is addicted to sugar and flour, for example, then choosing to abstain from them completely is actually the moderate choice," says Thompson. (See: 5 Signs You're Addicted to Junk Food)

So if you find that you're happiest and healthiest outlining your diet per the paleo, raw, or some other plan, there's no shame; going all-out with your healthy eating might be best for you. But if restriction ends in binges or makes you completely miserable? Moderation might be your happy medium. As long as you're eating whole foods, lots of veggies, and cutting out ultra-processed Franken-foods, your body will handle the rest just fine, says Thompson: "There's no one-size-fits-all solution."

Read the rest here:
The Most Popular Diets In America Prove That We're Pretty Extreme with Our Eating - Shape Magazine

We already knew that fat could accumulate pretty much anywhere on our bodies, but we kind of thought our bones, at least, were a fat-free zone. Sadly, it turns out that's not at all the case. But just like all our other pudge, bone fat can also be blasted by exercise, according to researchers from the University of North Carolina.

When you think about it, it makes sense that bones have fat; that's what makes bone marrow such a delicacy on some menus. But the way in which the bone marrow fat forms and its role in the body have both been a bit unclear to scientists, says UNC. So a study led by Maya Styner, a physician and assistant professor of endocrinology and metabolism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, set out to investigate.

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"There's been intense interest in marrow fat because it's highly associated with states of low bone density, but scientists still haven't understood its physiologic purpose," said Styner. "We know that exercise has a profound effect on fat elsewhere in the body, and we wanted to use exercise as a tool to understand the fat in the marrow."

Styner and her team raised two different groups of mice by giving them different diets starting a month after they were born. One group was fed a high-fat diet which turned them into obese mice, while the other received a normal diet that kept them lean. Then, at four months of age, half the mice from each group got a running wheel in their cage. While that might not seem like the most exciting gift to you and I, it turns out that mice really like to run, so it suited them just fine.

The researchers then took a look at the bone marrow fat from all the rodents. They found that in the mice that exercised, the amount of fat and the size of fat cells in their marrow had reduced significantly. In fact the reduction was so significant that fat-wise, the marrow of the obese mice was pretty much identical to those of the lean mice even the wheel-running lean mice. The researchers also found the mice who exercised had thicker bones and that this thickening was most pronounced in the obese mice.

"Obesity appears to increase a fat depot in the bone, and this depot behaves very much like abdominal and other fat depots," said Styner. "Exercise is able to reduce the size of this fat depot and burn it for fuel and at the same time build stronger, larger bones."

While the researchers were able to draw parallels between exercise and thicker, leaner bones, at this point they're not entirely sure about the relationship between marrow fat reduction and bone health.

One theory is that when fat cells get burned inside the marrow, the energy released could be used by the body to beef up bone composition. Another theory involves cells known as mesenchymal stem cells, which lead to the creation of both fat and bone cells. It could be that exercise tips their production quotas to more bone and less fat. Interestingly, if this second theory turns out to be valid, mesenchymal stem cells also produce bone and fat in human, so the results could translate well.

"If we want to take this technique to the human level, we could study marrow fat in humans in a much more reliable fashion now," said Styner. "And our work shows this is possible."

Details of the study have been published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Source: University of North Carolina

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Fatty bones? That's nothing a little exercise can't handle - New Atlas

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