Fat that does a body good

Believe it or not, fat is a healthy part of your diet. The trick? Choosing the right kind, which helps you stay full, prevent overeating and keep the weight off.

When checking the nutrition facts on your food, scan for “monounsaturated fat” and “polyunsaturated fat”—these are the good fats.

Stay away from saturated and trans fats, which cause weight gain, and can elevate your cholesterol and put you at risk for disease. (Saturated fats should be less than 10% of your calories.)

Add these foods to your diet for a healthy and delicious way to lose weight

1. Olive oil—Not only a healthy source of monounsaturated fat, olive oil lowers bad LDL cholesterol and raises good HDL cholesterol.

   Try it: on salads and as a butter substitute

2. Nuts—packed with protein, unsaturated fats and omega-3s, nuts are a perfect satisfying snack. All you need is a small serving each day of walnuts, pecans, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, cashews or almonds (the size of a shot glass).

   Try it: mixed in with salads and steamed veggies

3. Avocado—Avocados are high in heart healthy unsaturated fat, helping you feel satisfied. They may also help lower your LDL cholesterol by as much as 17 percent when consumed daily.

   Try it: on sandwiches and spread over toast

Do You Need to Lose Weight?

Get weight loss tips and a medically proven diet plan from Dr. Oksana Aron — Bariatric physician who can help you lose weight without surgery or fad diets. Call today at 718-491-5525 for your initial consultation or book online at WeightLossNYC.com

Labels: appetite, cholesterol, diet, diet tips, fat, lose weight, new york, ny, staten island, weight loss

The Green Fruit

Got Avocado?

What’s in your brown bag for lunch? While packing a lunch can be difficult (a sandwich again?!), here’s one idea to switch things up a bit and lose weight: eating avocado with your lunch can aid weight loss. Here’s how:

An Avocado a Day Keeps the Hunger Away

Consuming up a half of an avocado can help you feel as much as 26% more satisfied and can even keep you from wanting to reach for an afternoon snack later on in the day, according to a study published in Nutrition Journal. Those in the study reported a:

• 40% decreased desire to eat 3 hours after lunch, and
• 28% decreased desire to eat 5 hours later

Just a little avocado a day can go a long way in eating a healthy diet without overeating.

What’s in an Avocado

A whole avocado contains 250 calories and 23 grams of fat, most of which is healthy monounsatured fat, which can reduce bad cholesterol levels. It may even be helpful in regulating blood sugar levels, which has yet to be investigated.

Any way you slice it, avocados can be healthy for you and boost your weight loss efforts. Try some in a healthy green salad or spruce up a boring sandwich with it and notice the difference.

Want to lose weight fast?

Become our next success story at WeightLossNYC™. No gimmicks or crash diets, just sound advice for healthy living. Give us a call at 718-491-5525 today.

Labels: 718-491-5525, appetite, calories, cholesterol, diet tips, fat, lose weight

Dr. Oksana Aron recommends taking a fresh look at the foods you eat every day is an important healthy start. Keep switching out some of the unhealthy items in your diet with healthier ingredients, you will feel and see the difference in your diet.

There are No Secrets, Just Healthy Facts

Media love to hype up celebrity diets, but you don’t need an endorsement to read up on healthier food options for your diet.

Healthy Dieting Program

Healthier foods, healthier you

On the quest for foods that help you lose weight? Or are you in a meal planning rut? Look no further than the following healthy foods to incorporate in your next meal to mix it up and drop some pounds. The only celebrity here is you, making famous food choices to build a healthier you.

1. Black Beans

   An excellent non-meat source of protein, 1 cup of black beans give you 15 grams of protein to keep you full and satisfied

2. Green Tea

   It boosts your metabolism and may even prevent fat absorption

3. Cucumbers

   Cucumbers help you feel full and satisfied, but are low in calories

4. Olive Oil

   Its healthy monounsaturated fats lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol

5. Bran Cereal

   A high-fiber alternative to other breakfast cereals, it can help you cut calories and stay fuller

6. Pears

   With 5 grams of fiber, they're as filling as they are delicious. They also contain pectin, which helps lower bad cholesterol.

7. Dark Chocolate

   Its antioxidants may help boost your metabolism

8. Wild Salmon

   Salmon can keep you feeling full and satisfied with its high levels of omega-3s

9. Eggs

   Eating eggs for breakfast can lower your daily caloric intake by 400 calories.

10. Low-Fat Mozzarella String Cheese

    With no carbs and lean protein, it helps you feel full.

11. All-Natural Peanut Butter

    Its piceatannol content helps block the formation of fat cells.

Lose Weight Fast Diet Plan

You can lose weight quickly by calling us at 718-491-5525 for your initial consultation. By taking a holistic approach to your unique needs, Dr. Aron will help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

“Today’s diet is tomorrow’s body” — Oksana Aron, M.D.

Medical weight loss is the only clinical solution recommended by the American Society of Bariatric Physicians.

Visit Dr Aron at WeightLossNYC.com

Cite: rd.com; besthealthmag.ca; everydayhealth.com

Labels: brooklyn, calories, carbohydrates, carbs, cholesterol, diet, lose weight, metabolism, new york, nutrition facts, protein, weight loss

They’re just eggs, right? Sure, if by “just eggs” you’re also including sodium acid pyrophosphate, citric acid, monosodium phosphate and nisin (all preservatives), as well as liquid margarine (which is made from liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils [trans fats], salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil [trans fats], soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate [preservatives], artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate and beta carotene [color]).

Labels: 718-491-5525, appetite, calories, cholesterol, diet, fat, high blood pressure, new york, nutrition facts, ny, nyc, weight gain

1. Sugar is believed to be the main cause of childhood and obesity
2. Sugar is believed to be the main cause of childhood sickness
3. Sugar is believed to be the main cause of Type 2 diabetes
4. Sugar is believed to be the main cause of hypertension
5. Sugar is believed to be the main cause of heart disease
6. Sugar is blamed as a culprit of rising rates of number one killers such as heart disease
7. Sugar increases blood levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol
8. Sugar increases risk factors for cardiovascular disease
9. Sugar helps cancer cells grow
10. Sugar is addicting and has a drug-like effect on the brain

Labels: 718-491-5525, appetite, blood sugar, cancer, childhood obesity, childhood weight gain, cholesterol, cravings, diet, heart disease, manhattan, nutrition facts, ny, nyc, obesity, weight gain

Don't Judge a Box by its Cover

Nutritional labels on prepared foods are meant to guide consumers in making healthy choices. What has evolved in recent years are scores of empty and misleading claims requiring time and perhaps a college degree to decipher which foods really are “good for you.”

Common misleading food labeling includes empty claims that imply health benefits which have no backing. Among these are “Made with natural flavor,” “Doctor recommended,” and “Made with natural goodness.”

Some claims are accurate but don't give the consumer additional information such as pasta packages labeled “no cholesterol” — Plain pasta does not contain cholesterol! More misleading are labels such as on Edy's Dibs Bite Sized Snacks. They boast “0 grams of trans fat!” giving the impression that these chocolate covered morsels of ice cream are heart healthy when in fact a serving contains 16 grams of saturated fat. The Center for Science in the Public Interest recommends that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prohibit companies from boasting of “0 grams trans fat” on products with more than one gram of saturated food per serving.

Don't Believe the Hype

Many labels for fruit-flavored items suggest that products offer the health benefits of fresh fruit when in reality, real fruit is found in small quantities if at all. Gerber Graduates Juice Treats-marketed for preschoolers- depict six different fruits on the package. The product actually contains grape juice concentrate and less than two percent raspberry and apple juice concentrate. The main ingredients are corn syrup and sugar, 17 grams worth, or about four teaspoons of refined sugars per serving.

One of the most widely used claims capitalizes on the food pyramid's recommendation that “at least half of recommended total grain intake should be whole grains.”^[5] Bread, cereal, cracker and even cookie packages often feature their whole grain and high fiber content. Yet these products often have refined flour as the first ingredient and a minimal amount of whole grains. Furthermore, a number of products which claim to be good sources of fiber are peddling fiber not from traditional sources such as whole grains, beans, vegetables or fruit, but from “isolated fibers” made from chicory root or purified powders of polydextrose and other substances. Unlike traditional sources of fiber, isolated fibers have not been shown to lower blood sugar or cholesterol, two of the key benefits of eating fiber.^[3].

Kellogg’s Froot Loops cereal boxes tout “Good Source of FIBER & Made with WHOLE GRAIN.” (A green leaf adorns the ampersand further fostering the image of healthy food.) While Froot Loops boxes list whole grains among the first five ingredients, the first ingredient is sugar. Ditto for many cereals and cookies labeled “made with whole grains.“

While the Center for Science in the Public Interest continues to urge the FDA to crack down on false and misleading food labeling, consumers can take proactive steps towards better nutrition. Read labels discriminately. When faced with choices among products (such as different yogurts), compare the nutritional facts and choose products with less saturated and trans fats and sugar, fewer artificial ingredients, and more nutrients such as protein and vitamins.

Eat more foods without labels, the foods your great-grandparents would recognize. As food guru Michael Pollan says, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

– Healthcare Author, Sima Michaels Dembo

References:

1. Center for the Science in the Public Interest, www.cspinet.org/new/200912291.html
2. Niman, Nicolette Hahn “Defending &rlquo;Foodies’: A Rancher Takes a Bite out of B.R. Myers,“ February 17, 2011, theatlantic.com/life/archive
3. Parker-Pope, Tara, “Six Meaningless Claims on Food Labels,“ New York Times, January 28, 2010.
4. Wikipedia, Nutritional Facts Label
5. DietaryGuidelines.com

Labels: 718-491-5525, artificial sweeteners, blood sugar, calories, cholesterol, dieting, fat, healthcare costs, nutrition facts, obesity, organic food, portion control, snacks, sugar

Manage Your Weight

Obesity Health Risk

Public Health

Childhood obesity is not only on the rise — it has tripled over the past 25 years.

According to a report in Academic Pediatrics by an obesity expert at Brenner Children’s Hospital, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, children are not just becoming overweight and obese. Many more are becoming severely obese, which can greatly impact their health. Severe childhood obesity is classified as a child with a body mass index (BMI) that is at least or greater than the 99th percentile for age and gender.

Researchers found the following facts in the study:

• Severe obesity among children jumped from 0.8 percent in 1976-80 compared to 3.8 percent in 1999-2004. There are now more than 2.7 million severely obese children in the U.S.
• The highest increases in severe childhood obesity occurred among blacks and Mexican-Americans and those who live below the poverty level. Severe obesity rates for Mexican-American children went from 0.9 percent in 1976-80 to 5.2 percent in 1999-2004.
• A third of the children considered severely obese were classified as having metabolic syndrome, which is a group of risk factors such as higher-than normal blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin levels that make them more susceptible to experiencing heart attack, stroke and diabetes.

Dr Aron can help

Dr Aron is a bariatric physician — specialist in treatment of overweight and obese persons. Her medical weight loss clinic focuses on the factors contributing to and resulting from excessive weight gain. Her programs are designed to help people lose weight fast, under medical supervision.

Labels: childhood obesity, cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, obesity