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Did you know that Advanced Age-Related Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of blindness amongst older individuals and it is expected to rise by 50% in the next 10 years. 

The Wilmer Eye Institute at John Hopkins University reported in the journal Ophthalmology  that consuming an abundant amount of Omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA may protect against the development of this disease. 

Sheila West and her fellow researchers evaluated data from 2,391 participants in the Salisbury Eye Evaluation Study.  This included mean and women between the age of 65 and 84.  They were given a dietary questionnaire that asked for the type and amount of fish or shellfish they consumed weekly.  Photographs were also taken of their eyes for evaluation of the presence and level of macular degeneration. 

Out of the 2,391 participants 227 subjects were found to have early macular degeneration and 153 had intermediate stage disease.  Advanced macular degeneration was found in 68 of the participants. 

In general it did not appear that a consumption of fish or shellfish helped with prevent this disease, but what they did find was that those who consumed one or more servings per week had a 60 percent lower risk of this disease compared to those who consumed less than one serving. 

These results add more credibility to other studies including the Age-Related Eye Disease Study that looked at nutrition as a source to protect against macular degeneration. 

There have been omega 3 measured in the retina of the eye and that it may be essential to eye health. 

There is still plenty more research that needs to be conducted on the potential benefit of omega 3 fats and macular degeneration, but it appear that there may be some benefit of consuming Omega 3 fats and your eye health. 

Future studies will hopefully be able to pin down exactly how much is consistently needed and the benefit it provides in the prevent of advanced macular degeneration.

Click Any Of The Links Below For More Related Posts About Omega 3 Fats and EPA and DHA.

Source:

Bonnielin K. Swenor, Susan Bressler, Laura Caulfield, Sheila K. West.   The Impact of Fish and Shellfish Consumption on Age-Related Macular Degeneration, 13 July 2010 pages 2395-2401

by Cassandra Forsythe, PhD, RD

Most people complain that breakfast is one the hardest meals to eat in a day. However, your mother was right: it is one of the most important meals.

Not only does a balanced breakfast give you energy for the rest of the day, but it helps you eat less and feel less hungry as the day goes on. It’ll prevent you from digging into the cookie jar when you get home from work, and will allow you to have a great workout at noon.

But, since time is usually an issue for most people, here are 5 of our favorite quick breakfast meals that you can make in a snap:

1)    High-Fiber Protein Pancake: Most people think of butter and syrup when they picture a pancake, but this is different. Instead, mix up the following ingredients and cook them the night before so you have this healthy pancake in the morning.

Just warm quickly on the stove or toaster oven and top with your favorite nut butter:

Ingredients:
•    1/2 Cup Egg Whites
•    1 scoop Vanilla Prograde Protein powder
•    1/3 Cup dry Old-fashioned Oatmeal
•    1 tsp Ground Flax Seeds
•    1/8 tsp. Baking Powder
•    Sprinkle of Cinnamon
•    Olive Oil cooking spray

Directions:  Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray and place on medium heat to preheat pan.  Meanwhile, combine the egg whites and protein powder in a mixing bowl, stirring with a fork or whisk until well-blended. 

Add oatmeal, flax, baking powder and cinnamon and mix vigorously for about a minute.  Check pan’s temperature by dropping a tiny amount of water on it. 

If the water bubbles/sizzles immediately, the pan is ready.  Using a large spoon or small ladle, spoon a small amount of the batter into the pan, gently spreading it to a pancake shape if it’s too thick to do this on its own.  Cook on one side until bubbles begin to appear and burst on the top of the batter.  Using a spatula, carefully flip over and cook for roughly the same amount of time. Repeat until batter is gone. Serves 1.

2)    Scrambled Eggs with Avocado and Salsa: Scrambled eggs really aren’t that hard or time-consuming to make. People think you have to mix the eggs ahead of time, but you can just quickly stir them a few times while cooking and they’ll become scrambled – Amazing!

We like mixing two Omega-3 Eggs with ½ cup Egg Whites and adding Spinach. Then, top with slices of avocado and fresh salsa. It’s a quick breakfast fit for a king (or queen).

3)    Whey Protein Smoothie: When you’re in a rush you can make this smoothie the night before, or quickly in the morning. The key thing is to use a single-serve blender unit, like a Magic Bullet, so you don’t have to worry about cleaning a huge, messy blender when you’re done.

We like to combine the following: 1 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, 1 scoop Prograde Vanilla Protein, 1 Tbsp Ground Flax, 1/3 Cup frozen unsweetened Mixed Berries, ½ Cup raw Spinach (the spinach adds a neat green color to the smoothie, but it still tastes awesome! Try it!), and 1 Tbsp Natural Peanut Butter.

4)    High-Protein Cereal: Face it, people love cereal because it’s easy to eat and can be healthy. But, most brands are covered with sugar and full of junk. Also, with just milk, it doesn’t really pack much metabolism-boosting protein.

So, instead, try this with your normal breakfast bowl: Mix one scoop of Vanilla Prograde Protein with water or milk and pour that over a bowl of your favorite low-sugar breakfast cereal; some of our favorite are Uncle Sam, Bran Flakes (add your own raisins to make it Raisin Bran), Cheerios, Puffed Rice, and Shredded Wheat.  

5) Nutty, Berry, Greek Yogurt: Most people think of yogurt as just a snack item, but it can be a great breakfast food too. However, like cereal, some yogurt is really like dessert, instead of a health food.

So, skip all that sugar found in most yogurts and try this: Mix 6 ounces of 2% plain organic Greek yogurt with 2 Tbsp of slivered almonds, 1 tsp ground flax seeds and 1/3 cup frozen, thawed, unsweetened berries.

The Person That Submits The BEST Quick and Easy Breakfast Idea Wins A FREE Prograde Product Of Their Choice!

Your idea must be submitted by 11:59pm EST tomorrow night, Thursday Dec 30th.

1.  Season To Taste:  Just because a recipe lists out the amount of certain spices and seasonings doesn’t mean you have to abide by that.  Your mouth is going to tell you what you like best.  So experiment a little and season to your taste.

2.  Utilize the advice of others:  Have you ever talked to your butcher or produce manager at your grocery store.  If you haven’t you should be.  They know about the best cuts of meat, the freshest meats that have just arrived or the freshest produce.  Particularly the butchers can also tell you how best to prepare a certain cut of meat or fish.  Utilize their expertise to enhance your dinner plate. 

3.  Create your own recipes:  Recipes or ingredients aren’t set in stone.  If you have some extra mushrooms in the fridge or a red bell pepper throw it into a recipe you think it would fit into.  Don’t let good food go to waste.  If you don’t like a recipe that has chicken in it and you think it would taste good with beef then switch it out.  You will be amazed at how many new recipes you can come up with by adding or swapping out various ingredients.  Expand your options and start experimenting a little and you just might come up with something amazing!

4.  Shop for the best:  Be picky with the quality of fruit and vegetables you buy.  Inspect them and don’t be afraid to ask the produce manager for the freshest product.  A fresh piece of fruit or quality vegetable can make all the difference in the taste of a meal or dish. 

Same goes for meat or fish.  Grass fed meat costs more, but you get a much healthier piece of meat richer in Omega 3 fats.  If healthier food leads to a healthier body then why wouldn’t you spend a few extra dollars on higher quality food.

5.  Utilize your local farms:  Since we are on the topic of quality generally if you buy from local farms you will get fresher produce or meat and it is likely to taste better also.  Not to mention if you buy organic or buy right after it comes out of the field you get a food with more nutrients in it. 

If you implement these 5 Kitchen Rules To Eating Right your food will taste better and you body will thank you.

What Kitchen Rules/Tip Do You Use For Good Nutrition?

The Person That Submits The BEST Tip Wins A FREE Prograde Product Of Their Choice!

Your tips must be submitted by 11:59pm EST tonight Tuesday Dec 7th

Low carb diets were all the craze a few years ago and no one knew why or how they really worked.  Or why some people lost a ton of weight and others lost hardly anything.

Then the scientists and researchers got involved to help sort all this out and a good amount of research regarding low carb diets was conducted over the course of the next few years.

What they found was that when followed properly you can be pretty successful with a low carb diet or weight loss program.

Why some people didn’t seem to lose weight on a low carb diet may be because they were either not truly following a low carb diet or they were replacing the carbs with fat and other calories so the calories were equal or even more than what they were eating before they started the program. Now this last part isn’t always true for everyone as my colleague Dr. Cassandra Forsythe saw in her PhD study that her participants actually still lost weight when they replace the carbs with fat.  I am not sure if she nailed down the reason why this happened, but it did happen in the study she was conducting.

A true low carb diet is generally less than 100gms of carbohydrates per day which is why many thought they were on a low carb diet, but in reality they were eating 35-40% of their calories from carbs.  

Now this brought them down into a normal intake for carbs that they should have been eating the whole time, but it was not low carb.  It was just lower than what their current intake was.

In general we consume way too many carbohydrates as well as the wrong type of carbs.  So just cutting your current carb intake in half and eating more whole grain carbs instead of simple carbs may very well allow you to shed extra fat because you are cutting out those extra un-needed calories.

Why a low carb diet may be beneficial to you is because it forces you to stop eating all the processed simple carbs that usually contain a lot of calories.  You also re-train your body to adjust the way it utilizes the calories.  It becomes more efficient at functioning with less sugars and more lean protein.  You also use up the stored carbs and fat you are carrying around.

When followed properly your fat intake is also at a moderate intake of healthy fats so that the fat calories you are eating are being used by the body in a beneficial way instead of just being stored for use at a later time.

You also eat more lean protein to supply your body the nutrients to build new lean muscle as well as provide it with some energy with the amino acids you are supplying.

A low carb diet can be an effective way to lose weight by using up the stored extra calories and training your body to use the nutrients differently and more efficiently.

You also learn to eat in a healthier manner by choosing better foods and eliminating the junk. 

Have you followed a true low carb diet before?  Were you successful with it?

For those that don’t know what fasting is let me quickly explain.  Fasting is sometimes done for a variety of reasons.  I will explain how it is applied for weight loss in a second.  Fasting is essentially not eating or drinking anything that contains calories for a set time period.  

Generally this time period is 24 hours.  Fasting for weight loss is sometimes done as a way to break bad habits or shock your body into behaving differently whether that be mentally or physically.  Physically it is done to force your body to use stored calories such as fat calories and carbohydrate calories.  

You generally only want to do this for a short time such as one 24 hour time period for example because what will start to happen real fast is your body’s leptin levels will drop and your body may start shedding lean muscle to slow down the metabolism.  Essentially your body thinks you are starving itself.  

One way to counteract some of this is by consuming branched chain amino acids during your fast day.  This is done to feed your body nutrients that it can use for energy rather than going after the amino acids in your muscle and essentially breaking down the muscle.  

Fasting takes a lot of discipline and it not for the weak of heart.  It is pretty hard to not eat or drink calories for 24 straight hours because it goes against everything your body is known to do.  

It is a way to jumpstart a weight loss program or break through a plateau sometimes.  Just do not implement this all the time or for long periods.   The exact opposite will happen, which is no weight loss at all.

Have you ever fasted before?  If so for what reason?

Cheat days being incorporated into more weight loss programs because of some of the success that certain programs have achieved with it in their program.

The idea at first was to give you a mental break from your strict diet.  Some programs are very strict and mentally individuals would become tired and start to stray from the program.  Ultimately they "fell off the wagon" so to speak because mentally it is too challenging for them to continue. 

So many use the cheat day as a way to give you a break or a reprieve mentally.  It allows you to eat some of those foods you have been avoiding while on your weight loss program. 

What some have discovered with research is that something physically takes place when you incorporate a cheat day. 

When you diet or restrict calories and nutrients your body will start to deplete a hormone called leptin.  Leptin is a powerful hormone that can influence your weight loss or even cause you to gain weight if it manipulated in the wrong way. 

When you diet and start depleting your leptin levels you brain gets sent a signal from leptin that you are starving yourself because leptin is dropping.  This is what some call the ‘starvation mode’ and when this happens it triggers a series of other actions.  Your brain will now send signals to other hormones to slow down your metabolism, shed energy costly muscle and cause your body to start storing more calories you eat as stored fat. 

A cheat day is important in this situation because by allowing you to eat more calories, more sugar, more fat, etc allows the hormone leptin to increase and calm down.  By raising your leptin level back to normal it starts to think "We are not starving" and tells the brain to stop conserving and trying to protect the body. 

This allows you to continue to burn calories and prevent extra storage of calories.  Generally it takes a few days for the body to recognize the calorie restriction and the leptin level to start to fall, which is why a cheat day is usually inserted somewhere between the 3rd and 5th day of a restricted calorie weight loss program. 

One thing to be careful with this method though is that 1 cheat day doesn’t turn into 2 cheat days and then 3 cheat days, etc, etc.  There are some individuals that have a hard time getting back on the program the next day so if you use this type of program be careful to not fall into this trap.  

Most will look forward to this method and don’t mind getting back to the program the next day knowing that the next cheat day is coming in 3-5 days.  

If you follow a strict calorie restricted weight loss program and don’t have a cheat day built in you might want to insert one every 4 days and see if it doesn’t help you with your weight loss. 

Do you follow a program that has a cheat day?  If so do you like it?  Has it helped you with your weight loss or hurt you?

We are learning through various research studies how valuable Branched Chain Amino Acids are.  It is exciting to see how beneficial they are when consumed in the proper quantities.

There is more research just released that was conducted on mice showing that it may extend the life span. 

Enzo Nisoli and his colleagues at Milan University published their study in the October 2010 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism. 

The branched chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine show in this study that they extended the average life span of mice. 

We know that amino acids are what are called the building blocks of protein.  There are a few essential amino acids that your body can not make itself and needs to obtain them through food or supplementation. 

So if you do not consume these amino acids, which include BCAAs means that your body is unable to build a complete protein and your body suffers as a result. 

Protein is involved in numerous reactions and not only build new lean muscle, but also assists in energy and your metabolism. 

This study appears to show that lifespan may be extended as well.  The food intake, body weight at fat levels were similar in the supplemented and non-supplemented mice.  The supplemented mice saw an increase in cardiac and skeletal muscle mitochondria. 

This muscle mitochondria are energy producing organelles of cells.  There was also less oxidative damage.  They also saw increased exercise endurance. 

Dr. Nisoli stated that this is the first demonstration that branched chain amino acids can increase life in mice so don’t get too excited just yet that you can live to 100 years old. 

What this does show us is that there very well could be an anti-aging role with branched chain amino acids. 

We already know they contribute to new lean muscle and assist in energy metabolism in humans.  As more research evolves they will continue to test this method in other animals and in humans to try and replicate the results. 

I will keep reading the latest research studies on branched chain amino acids and updating you on what the scientists are uncovering with these 3 powerful amino acids. 

Resource: 

Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplementation Promotes Survival and Supports Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Biogenesis in Middle-Aged Mice.   Giuseppe D’Antona, Maurizio Ragni, Annalisa Cardile, Laura Tedesco, Marta Dossena, Flavia Bruttini, Francesca Caliaro, Giovanni Corsetti, Roberto Bottinelli, Michele O. Carruba, Alessandra Valerio, Enzo Nisoli
Cell Metabolism Journal, October 2010

Polyunsaturated fatty acid oils such as krill oil may actually activate specific genes that help your body regulate fat cell differentiation as well as glucose homeostasis. 

I know those were some pretty big words.  Fat Cell differentiation is a process where an unspecialized cell acquires specialized features of a fat cell. 

Glucose homeostasis is any process involved in the maintenance of a steady state of glucose within the cell.  So essentially minimize blood sugar spikes. 

A new study that was published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry is suggesting that supplementation of polyunsaturated fatty acids  activates PPARy, which is a transcription factor.  This increases regulation of adipocytes (fat cells) and may help to maintain glucose homeostasis.

The research showed that these adipogenic genes and glucose metabolism genes were elevated in PPARy transgenic mice when they were fed fish oil. 

The research with the mice provided direct evidence and proof that polyunsaturated fats particularly EPA and DHA which is in krill oil helps to regulate glucose homeostasis through the relationship and interaction with the transcription factor PPARy. 

What is PPARy?

Peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor y (PPARy) is thought to be an important transcription factor that helps to regulate fat cell differentiation and has also been known to play a vital role in maintaining glucose homeostasis. 

Many researchers target this transcription factor for many anti-diabetic drugs.

How does EPA and DHA help activate anti-diabetic genes?

The activation of PPARy occurs when it binds with specific ligand molecules.  Polyunsaturated fatty acids like EPA and DHA are known to bind quite well to PPARy.

Previous studies have also suggested that polyunsaturated fatty acids are able to control PPARy activity and that DHA increase the responsiveness in a cell model.

What has been lacking though is the direct evidence via in vivo research studies, which is why this study was conducted.  They wanted to see if the cell research would translate to more of a human/animal based model.

Dr. Yu and colleagues reported that mice fed a fish oil supplementation that included EPA and DHA had an increased level of adipogenic and glucose uptake genes which lead to a  reduced plasma glucose concentration.

To summarize the authors of this study suggest that polyunsaturated fatty acids such as krill oil/fish oil, and particularly EPA and DHA may function as a natural regulator of glucose uptake and that its effects are mainly influenced through PPARy activation.

Now that this has been conducted in vivo with mice they will now attempt to duplicate this with humans.  This is potentially a big breakthrough for EPA and DHA in the regulation of blood sugars and prevention of diabetes. 

Why do you take Krill Oil and EFA Icon?
 

Reference:
Source: Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2010.01.006
“The function of porcine PPARγ and dietary fish oil effect on the expression of lipid and glucose metabolism related genes”
Authors: Y.H. Yu, S.C. Wu, W.T.K. Cheng, H.J. Mersmann, T.L. Shen, S.T. Ding

It has been suggested in a report online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that some of the obesity increase may be due to an increased exposure of light at night.  Also, for those that do shift work. 

They believe this increased exposure to light at night disrupts the release of melatonin, which is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain. 

According to coauthor and Ohio State University professor of neuroscience and psychology Randy Nelson what they observed is that light at night is an environmental factor that may be contributing to the obesity epidemic in ways that people don’t expect.

Dr. Nelson looked at the effects of nighttime light exposure in 8 week old male mice.  The animals were exposed to 24 hours of constant light, a standard light-dark cycle which consisted of 16 hours of light and 8 hours of darkness and also 16 hours of light and 8 hours of dim light.  This is last variable is to mimic those living in industrialized nations.

As early as one week after the testing began there was a greater increase in body mass observed among the mice exposed to content light and those exposed to the dim light.  Those exposed to the standard 8 hours of darkness did not experience this increase in body mass. 

At 4 weeks the constant light and the dim light groups showed impaired glucose tolerance.  The mice that lived with light at night were getting fatter than the others according to lead author and doctoral student Laura Fonken.

Dr. Nelson states that they conducted another experiment where there was a light-dark cycle and a dim light cycle, but the mice had continuous access to food.  The dim light group seemed to eat at night where the dark cycle group did not eat.  When food was restricted to the dim light group the weight gain didn’t occur. 

So it appears that your timing of eating may be very important to preventing weight gain.  Also, controlling the melatonin levels in your body may be a factor in preventing weight gain as well.

Now these experiments were done with mice and not humans so there also needs to be additional studies done with humans, but mice are very close in humans in regards to behaviors when exposed to certain things so at the very least this is something to take note of and pay attention to. 

When we watch a lot of TV at night and wonder why we are hungry this may be something that is contributing to that hunger.

If this happens to you try a little experiment on yourself and 1 hour before going to bed turn off the TV and at least dim the lights.  Also, don’t watch TV in bed with the lights on. 

See if it makes a difference in your sleep habits and if your hungers at night go away.  For those that have trouble falling asleep this may be the ticket to training your body for sleep instead of eating at night.

Do you turn off the TV and go right to bed?

Reference:

Laura K. Fonken, Joanna L. Workman, James C. Walton, Zachary M. Weil, John S. Morris, Abraham Haim, and Randy J. Nelson  Light at night increases body mass by shifting the time of food intake PNAS published ahead of print October 11, 2010, doi:10.1073/pnas.1008734107
 

You can lose all the weight you want, but without enough sleep you may not be losing the right type of weight.

There was a study released in the Annals of Internal Medicine recently that showed if you reduce your sleep by 3 hours from the suggested 8.5 hours per night to 5.5 hours per night can cause you to lose proportionately less fat. 

They took ten dieters and reduced each of their calories by 10%.  All ten participants lost a comparable amount of weight which was about 6.6 pounds, but the type of weight they lost was very different based on how much sleep they got.

For the participants who slept the full 8.5 hours each night the weight they lost was fat, but the participants that only slept 5.5 hours lost only a quarter of their weight as fat.  The rest was protein and lean muscle.

What researchers believe is happening is that the amount of sleep a person gets is affecting the gherlin hormone levels.  This hormone stimulates appetite and also promotes fat retention.

They also suggested that this shorter sleep cycle may also lead to your body proteins being converted into glucose to assist with longer metabolic needs due to being awake longer.

To summarize sleep is one of the easiest things we can do to enhance our weight loss and make sure that we are losing the type of weight we want to lose.  So make sure you get plenty of sleep every night.

How much sleep do you get per night? 

Reference:
Insufficient Sleep Undermines Dietary Efforts to Reduce Adiposity.  Arlet V. Nedeltcheva,  Jennifer M. Kilkus, Jacqueline Imperial, Dale A. Schoeller, Plamen D. Penev Ann Intern Med October 5, 2010 153:435-441;