AS BLACK belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, Reid Reale knows more than most about stepping into the ring to fight.

It was a perfect background for the University of the Sunshine Coast PhD student to undertake research into how elite combat sport athletes can reach their "fighting weight without resorting to extreme dieting and dehydration.

Reid spent three years studying hundreds of top-level athletes in Olympic combat sports - boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling - to determine how to maximise performance and minimise the health impacts of rapid weight loss before a weigh-in.

His study found that eating light, calorie-dense foods like protein bars or confectionary provided athletes with enough calories for peak performance while enabling them to get into lower weight categories.

Mr Reale, now based in Melbourne, said body mass manipulation through crash dieting and dehydration was widespread across combat sports and current health guidelines of "just say no were unrealistic.

"If fighters have a certain amount of weight to strip off, they're still going to do it in some fashion, he said.

"We wanted to work out the safest way for them to do that and maximise their performance in the ring.

"Severe dehydration can be very unsafe and obviously if you have a major energy deficit for a long period of time, particularly before a competition, you're not going to perform well.

"Someone without any education in this area might try to achieve their entire weight loss target through restricting water and sweating. My research was about introducing other strategies.

Mr Reale's study, conducted in partnership with the Australian Institute of Sport, involved conducting full-body scans of almost 100 elite athletes, including national teams from Japan, Thailand, Brazil and the Philippines.

The USC study found that in the two to three days prior to a weigh-in, athletes aiming for rapid or acute weight loss should manage water intake and avoid eating fruit, vegetables and grains - instead opting for low weight, high-energy foods.

"Someone trying to chronically reduce body mass and body fat over time will be looking at low-calorie, bulky foods like salads, Mr Reale said.

"But this does not work for rapid weight loss, as these foods leave undigested fibre in their gastrointestinal tract.

"So instead of having one to two kilograms of fruit, vegetables, wholegrains or meat over a day, a fighter might have a few protein bars, a handful of lollies or some chocolate.

"They will still get the energy they need, but it's not going to sit heavily in the stomach. And mere grams can make the difference.

Mr Reale has been excelling as both a high-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter and as a researcher while doing his PhD.

Last year, he won the black belt heavyweight title at the 2016 UAEJJF World Championship Sydney Trials and took first place in the Mini-Oral Presentations section of the 2016 Congress of the European College of Sport Science in Vienna.

USC Associate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics Gary Slater congratulated Mr Reale on his achievements and said his research findings had already made an impact internationally.

"It's been extremely well received, both within peer-reviewed journals and international scientific congresses, he said.

"Reid has received several invitations to work with major combat centres, including in Japan and Brazil.

"The amount of work he's had published in a period where he wasn't just a PhD student, but also a competitor, is very impressive.

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Reid's fighting for truth on sports diets - The Sunshine Coast Daily

In the United States alone, 108 million people are on a diet. That number comes from The U.S. Weight Loss and Diet Control Market which only measures people actively spending money on diet-related products and services. It doesnt count all the people trying to eat less or get healthier on their own.

But heres the statistic that I want to focus on: among the obese who try to lose weight, the failure rate is 99 percent. Literally, 99 percent do not succeed at getting slim.[i] And for that precious one percent who do succeed, the triumph is temporary. The vast majority regain the weight over the next few years.

Yet the research is very clearpeople are genuinely motivated to lose weight.[ii] Theyre spending enormous sums of money to do it-over $60.9 billion in 2010.[iii] Few things are more desirable in our Western culture than being trim. So why cant we succeed? And why doesnt anybody seem to wonder why smart, capable, educated, motivated people who really want to get slender just cant do it?

What we need to focus on is that the problem itself doesnt make any sense. Theres no other field of endeavor that Im aware of where intelligence, determination, and capability have so little bearing on the outcome.

The reality is that our common understanding of the problem is flawed. And our common understanding of the solution is flawed. Theyre flawed because theyre not rooted in brain science.

The real problem is that our brains are blocking us from losing weight.

Our brains have been hijacked by diets high in sugar and flour to block every attempt at dieting. The science is clear: someone who has had the pleasure receptors in their nucleus accumbens down-regulated by sugar cannot just quit because an article tells them to, any more than a smoker stops once someone points out its bad for him. The addiction is stronger than that.

And the two most common proffered solutions, calorie restriction and exercise, dont work because, first: exercise drains the cognitive mechanism of self-regulation known as willpower, that thing overweight people are told to just get more of. The brain doesnt work that way. Willpower is a finite daily resource, not a dimension of character. And if you drain yours by pushing yourself to the gym you are more likely to succumb to a high-calorie food choice later. That food choice will be more harmful than the workout was beneficial.

Second: calorie restriction without a daily framework to help us resist our cultures endless cues to eat will fail.

Again, the hijacked brain demands what it thinks it needs, and it will win.

Heres what does work: lowering insulin levels permanently to allow the brain to recognize the hormone leptin. Leptin cues us to feel full and get moving, but high baseline insulin blocks it out, leaving us feeling insatiably hungry.

What else works? Moving food choices out of the prefrontal cortex, where they can be debated, and into the more primitive basal ganglia, where they become automatic. Automatic like brushing your teeth. Popular diets right now have people eating six small meals a day. That is too many opportunities for the saboteur in our brains to run the conversation and it undermines automating healthy choices so they take zero willpower. Three meals a day are automatizable. Snacks arent.

And finally, it works to have a program that expects you will run out of willpower dailybecause you willand still allows you to be successful[NW1] . Im not talking about a diet. Im talking about a food plan that heals the brain, coupled with daily, ongoing support and systems that make weight-loss permanent.

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Can't Lose Weight? It's Not You, It's Your Brain - eMaxHealth

Many celebrities go all-out when it comes to their eating habits.Gisele BndchenandTom Bradyare famously restrictive with their diet. Celebs are knownfor going on fad diets. ButRihannaspersonal chef, who servesbreakfast, lunch, dinner, and plenty of late-night snacks to the music icon, according to a new interview inBon Apptit, is anything but boring with her daily menus. As usual, Rihanna is awesome.

First of all, RiRi isa moody eater, Debbie Solomon toldBon Apptit.Rather than planning a meal schedule a week in advance, she follows Rihannas lead and flies by the seat of her pants, day to day.[With previous clients] I would send in a menu on a Sunday or Monday and they would pick for the week, and then Id be able to shop and prep, but this is nothing like that. We dont know what were gonna want to eat tomorrow, so why even pick today?

That said, she always has certain things on hand, which includes every protein that you can think of that [Rihanna] eats, along with veggies, pasta, and rice.Her suitcase is packed with spices, including maggi cubes (similar to bouillon), curry, jeera (a.k.a. cumin seeds), Old Bay seasoning, adobo, five-spice, garlic, and onion granules.

The general philosophy behind Solomans cooking is pleasure.There shouldnt be shame in eating food, she said. I wont waste my calories on bullshit. If I take a bite of something and its shitty to me, Im not just going to eat it because Im hungry. Im going to stop eating that shitty thing. Preach.

And Soloman is careful onsocial media, focusing on whats actually in front of her as opposed to posting for the likes.Theres a platform for me, being a black woman, and working for who I work for, she said. But I always think, its not gonna be worth it for me to jeopardize something for just a like on social media. Im getting paid. I dont need the likes. OK, we adore herand we would love to try her cooking someday. Lucky RiRi!

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Here's Rihanna's Exact Diet, According to Her Personal Chef - StyleCaster

However the FSA said that the number of alerts it issued to consumers to let them know there may be an undisclosed allergen in food increased from 73 in 2014 to 92 in 2015. The main reasons for this, it said, weredue to the wrong product being placed in the wrong packaging, or the labeling not being in English.

The FSA is also concerned that "may contain" allergy labels are used so widely that people with allergies "indulging in risk-taking behaviour" and choosing to ignore the claim, risking an allergic reaction.

The NHS does not hold data on specific food allergies but figures show that overall allergies, which include food allergies, are rising sharply.

According to NHS Digital data there were25,093 hospital admissions for allergies in England in 2015/16, up by 36pc from2011/12 when there were 18,471 admissions.

Over the period there was also a rise in hospital admissions for anaphylactic shocks, a serious type of allergic reaction which can cause swelling of the tongue, heart failure, and death.In 2011/12 there were 3735 hospital admissions, rising by 19pc to 4451 in 2015/16.

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More adults suffering from food allergies because of 'exotic' middle-class diets - Telegraph.co.uk

This Women's Day, as you gear up to receive a surprise breakfast fit for a queen or a hastily ordered bouquet of flowers, spend some time on your horoscope. Not on issues that are personal or professional but on those that are nutritional. Although I'm not a soothsayer or savant, I can quite comfortably predict your nutritional future this year. Without knowing you or meeting you, I can safely predict that this year most of you will...

Feel the need to clean plates Of course, I don't mean getting down and dirty or is it clean? with soap and water but eating leftovers. Beware of this obsessive need to "prevent waste" as you eat that last half-roti or those few spoonfuls of rice just so that you're satisfied that all the food is finished. If you continue to do so, you may be looking at a possible 4-5 kilos of weight gain in a year. The math is simple: let's assume that the extra intake of leftover dinner and/or dessert adds up to about 100 extra calories per day, if you are not able to burn it off. If you do this everyday, it totals up to 36,500 unburned calories a year. It takes 3,500 calories to gain a pound of weight, which is about 10 pounds or about 4-5 kilos of weight gained in a year. Quite simply, waste makes waist. Eating to prevent wastage doesn't always guarantee weight gain. But if you are struggling to lose those last few kilos, and not realising where things are going wrong, now you do. Maybe it's time to let the leftovers be. If you cannot finish what's on your plate, it's not your problem - it's the dustbin's or the fridge's.

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Your nutritional horoscope - Times of India

A new wave of ingestible electronics is poised to transform health care from the inside out. Researchers are experimenting with sensors that can wirelessly monitor vital signs like heart rate, respiratory rateand body temperature from the squishy interior of our gastrointestinal tract.

But for the devices to work longer than just a few hours after we swallow them, they need batteries that can safely be used inside our bodies. Now, researchers at MIT and Brigham and Womens Hospital have a solution: Theyve developed an ingestible battery that runs on stomach acid.

Its modeled on the lemon battery, the time-honored science fair project that uses the acid of a lemon to react with connected metal electrodes, generating electricity.

We started exploring a couple of ideas and thinking back to the high school days, one of the concepts was applying the lessons from the lemon battery, says Giovanni Traverso, a gastroenterologist and biomedical engineer at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He was a lead author on the earlier sensor research and co-authored this new study.

In the study, the battery powered a wireless temperature sensor in pigs for an average of 6 days.

Before this worked, the longest that had been achieved through systems was more on the order of minutes to about an hour, Traverso says.

Whats more, the battery worked while pigs were eating and drinking going about their daily business, he adds. And as the battery passed out of the stomach and into the small intestine, it kept harvesting small amounts of energy, even though the intestine isnt an acidic environment. Traverso calls it an encouraging observation for other body systems.

Eventually, Traverso and his team hope to develop a battery that can power sensors for weeks, and even months, after ingestion. He says that in the next phase of research, the team will likely dig deeper into how diet affects the batterys energy harvest. Specifically, you know, how much energy is available to be harvested during those times of feeding versus ones during a fasting time.

The pill housing the battery and sensor will see some changes, too. This was a prototype, he adds. And it was on the larger side.

In the future, Traverso thinks the pill could be designed to remain in the stomach for a prolonged period of time, and then change shape to trigger movement through the body. It could also be made out of materials that dissolve after a certain amount of time, delivering medications more effectively.

From there, Traverso sees a plethora of possibilities for the pill. The first thing we showed here in this study was temperature, Traverso says. But we've done some other work in the past looking at measuring heart rate, respiratory rate. And we're doing some other work looking at movement of the actual [gastrointestinal] tract, and then sensing different proteins and toxins.

This article is based on aninterviewthat aired on PRI'sScience Friday.

2016 Science Friday

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Scientists make a battery that runs on stomach acid - WUNC

By Kathleen Doheny

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 2, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- A poor diet while young may do more than just make it tough to fit into a pair of jeans: New research suggests it might also raise a younger woman's risk for breast cancer.

"A diet high in sugar, refined carbohydrates, and red and processed meat makes it more likely that you may experience early onset breast cancer," said study senior author Karin Michels. She is chair of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, in Los Angeles.

An unhealthy diet appeared to increase that risk by more than one-third, but the findings can't prove cause-and-effect, Michels said. "We are talking about a link or association," she noted.

The study tracked data from more than 45,000 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II. All of the women completed food frequency questionnaires about their teen and early adult diets, and were followed up for 22 years.

The researchers assigned the diets an inflammatory score, based on a method that links diet with established inflammatory markers in the blood. Eating a high-sugar, refined carbohydrate diet has been linked to higher levels of inflammatory markers in the blood, Michels explained.

Compared to the women with diets with a low inflammatory score, those in the highest of five groups during their teen years had a 35 percent higher risk of breast cancer before menopause, Michels and colleagues found.

And those in the highest inflammatory group during their early adult years had a 41 percent higher risk.

However, the inflammatory score was not linked with overall breast cancer incidence or with breast cancer occurring after menopause, the researchers found.

During the follow-up period, 870 of the women who finished the high school diet questionnaire were diagnosed with premenopausal breast cancer, and 490 were diagnosed with postmenopausal breast cancer.

The researchers can't explain why inflammation may drive up the risk. And while the main components of the inflammatory diet were foods that aren't surprising (such as white bread, hamburgers and pasta), the list also included lesser amounts of certain vegetables, such as celery, green pepper, mushrooms, eggplant and fish.

That finding deserves future study, Michels said.

The study also has limitations, the authors said, including the possibility of error in remembering a high school diet when the women were in their 30s and older.

Leslie Bernstein is a professor in the division of biomarkers for early detection and prevention at the Beckman Research Institute at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif. She was not involved in the study but reviewed the new findings and said, "It's a modest increase in risk."

Bernstein agreed that the mechanism for why inflammation may drive up risk is not fully understood by experts.

What advice would she offer women?

"Same thing I would tell them before this was written," Bernstein said. "Eat a diet that is healthy -- more chicken and fish than red meat, complex carbohydrates, eat a lot of vegetables, eat fruit and don't drink sugary drinks.''

The study was published March 1 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

WebMD News from HealthDay

SOURCES: Karin Michels, Sc.D., Ph.D., professor and chair, epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles; Leslie Bernstein, Ph.D., professor, division of biomarkers for early detection and prevention, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, Calif.; March 1, 2017, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention

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Bad Diet in Youth May Up Early Breast Cancer Risk - WebMD

Theres some good news and some bad news. When it comes to your diet, youve likely been doing everything wrong. On the bright side, youll never have to endure another pitiful juice cleanse again.

A guide recently published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology aims to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding fad diet tipsnotably the ones trying to deprive us of bread. According to the American College of CardiologysPrevention of Cardiovascular Disease Council, there are a few clear, scientifically substantiated guidelines when it comes to maintaining a healthy heart. Cutting through the noise are these simple dos and donts.

Go on insane juice cleanses. Juicing strips your produce of ultra-healthy fiber, and many store-bought juices have added sugars. Sure, a little juice is refreshing every now and then, but dont make it a dietary staple.

Go nuts with coconut oil. There isnt much evidence yet to suggest coconut and palm oil are great for you to use on a routine basis, says the ACC. If youre worried about your heart, olive oil will never let you down.

Waste money on supplements. No fancy powders compare to the real thing, which you can find in whole, healthy foods.

Panic about gluten. Unless a blood test reveals you have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, give up on your battle against bread. Life is too short for that.

Drink smoothies. Blending your fruits and veggies wont lessen any of their fibrous benefits, and drinking them may keep you full longer than eating a plateful of produce.

Eat nuts. Moderation is key here, the ACC stresses, since nuts are high in calories.

Indulge with an egg. Like nuts, moderation is crucial to keeping your cholesterol levels low. To get all the health benefits, perhaps enjoy a hard-boiled egg in your salad and skip the bacon and cheese omelet.

Load up on berries. Theyre chalk-full of antioxidants and theyre natures candy.

So there you have it. Its not super trendy, groundbreaking advice, but the health standard holds true that a diet of green, leafy vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and fruit reigns supreme.

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Everything About Your 'Healthy' Diet Is Bad And Wrong - GOOD Magazine

I'd be lying if I told you I didn't want you to go vegetarian or vegan. Compassion and love for animals was a big part of my reason for doing so. I've put together some interesting facts in this week's column for you to read over.

>> Studies show that a plant based diet increases the body's metabolism, causing the body to burn calories up to 16 percent faster than the body would on a meat-based diet for at least the first three hours after meals.

>> A number of researchers argue that while the human body is capable of digesting meat, our bodies are actually designed to be herbivores. For example, the human molars are similar to those of an herbivore, flat and blunt, which make them good for grinding, not tearing.

>> The first Vegetarian Society was formed in England in 1847. The society's goal was to teach people that it is possible to be healthy without eating meat.

>> In 2012, the Los Angeles city council unanimously approved a resolution that all Mondays will be meatless. The measure is part of an international campaign to reduce the consumption of meat for health and environmental reason.

>> There are several types of vegetarians. The strictest type is vegans. Vegans avoid not only meat but also all animal products. There is a debate within the vegan community about whether honey is appropriate for a vegan diet. For example, the Vegan Society and the American Vegan Society do not consider honey appropriate because it comes from an animal.

>> Several researchers argue that a vegetarian diet can feed more people than a meat-based diet. For example, approximately 20,000 pounds of potatoes can be grown on one acre of land. Comparatively, only around 165 pounds of beef can be produced on 1 acre of land.

>> A fruitarian is a type of vegetarian in which a person eats just fruits, nuts, seeds and other plant material that can be harvested without killing the plant.

>> Approximately 25 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of wheat. Around 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of meat. Many vegetarians argue that more people eating a meat-free diet would lower the strain that meat production puts on the environment.

>> A British study revealed that a child's IQ could help predict his or her chance for becoming a vegetarian. The higher the IQ, the more likely the child will become a vegetarian.

>> The American Dietetic Association concludes that a vegetarian or vegan diet is healthier than one that includes meat. The association notes vegetarians have lower body mass index, lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and less prostate and colon cancer.

>> Vegetarians have only slightly lower protein intake than those with a meat diet. Various studies around the world confirm that vegetarian diets provide enough protein if they include a variety of plant sources.

>> People become vegetarians for several reasons, including ethical, health, political, environmental, cultural, aesthetic and economic concerns.

>> An ovo-vegetarian will eat eggs but not other dairy products.

>> A lacto-vegetarian will eat dairy products but not eggs.

>> An ovo-lacto vegetarian diet includes both eggs and diary products.

>> The only vegetables with all eight types of essential amino acids in sufficient amounts are lupin beans, soy, hemp seed, chia seed, amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa. However, the essential amino acids can be achieved by eating other vegetables if they are in a variety.

>> Vegetarianism is still required for yogis in Hatha Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Eating meat is said to lead to ignorance, sloth and an undesirable mental state known as tamas. A vegetarian diet, on the other hand, leads to sattvic qualities that are associated with spiritual progress.

>> Benjamin Franklin was an early American vegetarian (though he later became a meat-eater again). He introduced tofu to America in 1770.

>> While vegetarian diets tend to be lower in calories and higher in fiber (which makes a person feel more full), some vegetarian diets can cause higher caloric intake than a meat diet if they include a lot of cheese and nuts.

Kellie McKinney, MS, is an exercise physiologist and the co-founder of Two Nutrition Nuts.

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Kellie McKinney: Vegan, vegetarian diets linked to many benefits - Huntington Herald Dispatch