Another Reason to Skip Diet Drinks

Drinking diet soda is linked to depression? And drinking coffee may keep you happier? Yes, according the results from a National Institutes of Health study. The study evaluated beverage consumption (teas, fruit punch, soda, diet teas, coffee...) of over 264,000 adults (ages 50 to 71) from 1995-1996. The researchers then went back to that same group ten years later to ask about how many had been diagnosed with depression? The answer: 11,311 had been diagnosed.

What was striking about the results is: Those who had 4 or more sodas per day were 30-percent more likely to have depression. Those who had 4 or more cans of fruit punch per day were 36-percent more likely to develop depression. The biggest risk of depression was among those drinking diet soda, diet teas or other artificially sweetened beverages. Those that had 4 or more cups of coffee per day had a 10-percent lower risk of developing depression.

The bottom-line: replace sugary and artificially sweetened drinkings with unsweetened options like:
- water
- plain coffee or tea
- decaf herbal teas
- water
- mineral water
- seltzer water

The results of the study will be officially presented in March 2013 at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting.

Your Questions... Answered!

Question: What is the best way to eat for someone who works a desk job and has not yet made regular exercise a habit and needs to kick start his metabolism and help him lose weight?

Answer:

1. Add in exercise. Exercise will help to boost lean muscle mass and muscle burns calories while sitting still which will kick start your metabolism.
- Try sneaking in exercise to get started: instead of fast-forwarding through commercial breaks, do crunches or push-ups.
- Consider enlisting the support of a personal trainer to help you create an exercise routine that is right for you!
- A bit more extreme but interesting is treadmill desks; check out this recent article from NPR on companies that are providing treadmill desks for their employees.

2. Sip on green tea.  Adding in plain green tea to your routine is linked to boosting metabolism; the benefits seem to be from the most abundant catechin in green tea, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Research shows the link to metabolism boosting when about 5 - 6 cups of green tea is consumed per day (Journal of the American College of Nutrition 2007)!

A word of caution... each cup (8 fluid ounces) of green tea has about 25 milligrams of caffeine. If you are drinking other caffeine containing beverages, cut back on other sources of caffeine coming from soda, coffee and skip energy drinks.

3. Sleep. Getting enough sleep (7-9 hours per night) is linked to helping keep weight in part by controlling appetite hormones. This partly because during sleep appetite hormones are regulated - specifically leptin (keeps you full) and ghrelin (makes you hungry). Without enough sleep here is what happens: leptin levels in the body decline and ghrelin levels increase... the result a bigger than necessary appetite!

Do you have a nutrition question you would like answered? Sumbit your questions at my Web site: http://www.creativenutritionsolutions.com/contactus.aspx