Who doesn’t love going to the movies? And a trip to the concession stand is second nature – there’s absolutely no way you will sit through a 2-hour movie without a large popcorn, soda and maybe a sour Skittles and Milk Duds. But while the Popcorn Board are touting popcorn as the healthiest option at cinemas because it’s a whole grain food low in calories and fat, a set of lab analysis by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest prove otherwise.

Did you know that a medium popcorn and soda combo at the country’s largest movie theater franchise, Regal, has 1 610 calories and 3 days’ worth of saturated fat?! If you’re going to be eating that you may as well stop at your nearest McDonalds and order 3 Quarter Pounders. Scary but true.

The report analyzed snacks at three of the country’s largest theatres: Regal Entertainment, AMC Theatres and Cinemark. Regal and AMC both pop their popcorn in coconut oil, which contains 90% saturated fat, while Cinemark at least use non-hydrogenated canola oil instead.

But when you do the math, this is how each of the three theaters compared:

Small bucket of popcorn
Regal = 670 calories + 550 mg sodium + 34g saturated fat; AMC = 370 calories + 210mg sodium + 20g saturated fat; Cinemark = 420 calories + 690mg sodium + 26g saturated fat

Medium bucket of popcorn
Regal = 1 200 calories + 980 mg sodium + 60g saturated fat; AMC = 590 calories + 330mg sodium + 33g saturated fat; Cinemark = 760 calories + 1 240mg sodium + 3g saturated fat

Large bucket of popcorn
Regal = 1 200 calories + 980 mg sodium + 60g saturated fat; AMC = 1 030 calories + 580mg sodium + 57g saturated fat; Cinemark = 910 calories + 1 500mg sodium + 4g saturated fat

Now if you add buttery toppings to your popcorn, you’re in for an even bigger shock. Regal’s topping adds 130g calories to a small bucket, 200 calories to a medium and 260 calories to a large bucket of popcorn.

So the next time you’re trying to watch your weight and you’re at the concession stand, think very carefully…

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It seems the British are eating too little. A draft report by the Scientific Committee on Nutrition says that the daily calorie intake recommended by the country’s health officials needs to be increased by as much as 16%.

The committee says the current recommendations of 2 000 calories for women and 2 500 for men needs to be revised as in its report it details a more accurate way calories can be burnt through physical exercise. The committee are, however, stressing that this is not a green light for individuals to go out and stuff their faces.

Understandably we can expect the British Health Department to make a big fuss about this report, as it’s quite risky telling people they may now eat 400 more calories a day – the equivalent of a cheese burger. Luckily the report first needs to undergo a 14-week consultation period before it can be taken seriously and before new recommendations can be considered by British health officials.

The draft report was only released to The Times and The Grocer magazine in the UK.

Celeb Diet Doctor…
Someone on the other side of the pond needs to get their head out of the sand and face reality. It’s like telling a smoker that they need to smoke more…

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Scoffing down that cheese burger or polishing off the last of those fries may make you feel satiated for now, but it could lead to depression later down the line. A new study shows that individuals who eat too much junk food tend to manifest depressive symptoms.

The study, which was published in the November issue of The British Journal of Psychiatry, noted that of the 3 486 male and female participants who ate the most high-fat foods, 58% were more likely to display signs of depression 5 years later. Dr Eric Brunner, one of the researchers, told The Daily Mail that diet seems to play an independent role in an individual’s mental health when taking exercise and lifestyle into consideration.

“If your diet is high in foods that make blood sugar levels go up and down like a yo-yo, then it’s not good for your blood vessels and is bound to have an effect on the brain,” Brunner told the news paper.

The researchers said a healthy diet plays a protective role in that the high levels of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables guard you against depression, just like folate in veggies like broccoli, cabbage, spinach, lentils and chickpeas. Fish is also high in polyunsaturated fatty acids.

So it’s finally been scientifically proven that eating a healthy, balanced diet not only improves your physical disposition, it also improves your mental one.

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Do you drink two or more diet sodas a day to keep the calories off? Beware; you may be getting your sugar-free treat, but you could also be doing some serious damage to your kidneys. A new study has shown that diet soda could as much as double your risk of deteriorating kidney function.

The study was presented this weekend in San Diego at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology, and showed that even women who have healthy kidneys displayed a 30% decline in kidney function.

Lead researcher Julie Lin, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a staff physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, studied more than 3 000 women who were already taking part in the Nurses’ Health Study over 11 years by comparing their dietary information and beverage intake with kidney function. Even after taking age, blood pressure, diabetes and physical activity into account, the study still showed that 11.4% of participants had a 30% or more decline in kidney function.

“With natural aging, kidney function declines about 1 milliliter per minute per year after age 40,” Lin told WebMD.

In the study, kidney function declined by 3 milliliters per minute per year. Unfortunately all the participants were women so researchers couldn’t say whether these findings hold true for men as well.

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It’s hard to resist candy, but it’s even harder on Halloween. Whether you’re going out trick or treating with the kids or going to a party where you know there will be plenty of temptations.  Be prepared for sugar overload. Truth be told all candy is evil and will lead to accelerated aging, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity.. and this is just a sampling of all the horrors that abound with sugar overload.

Trick or Treat?

Tricks:
5th Avenue (1 full-size bar) – 280 calories, 14g fat
Snickers (1 full-size bar) – 280 calories, 14g fat
Twix Caramel (2 bars) – 280 calories, 14g fat
Baby Ruth (1 full-size bar) – 280 calories, 13g fat
Butterfinger (1 full-size bar) – 270 calories, 11g fat
Milky Way (1 full-size bar) – 260 calories, 10g fat
Mr. Goodbar (1 full-size bar) – 210 calories, 14g fat

Treats:
Apple 50 calories, 0.2 g fat

Stay away from processed sugar!  Just have fun and skip the junk food.

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If you’re trying to manage your weight-loss but find cutting yourself off from your favorite fizzy drink a bit hard, Coca-Cola will soon be launching a 90-calorie mini can.

Sold in packs of 8, the new soft drink size will not only be limited to Coca-Cola, you will also be able to buy Sprite, Fanta Orange and Cherry Coca-Cola in these mini cans. The world’s largest soft drink company says it’s planning to roll out the new 7.5-oz cans nationwide by March 2010, but as part of its ongoing endeavors to increase consumer awareness about a healthy lifestyle, the company will be printing calorie information on almost all of its packaging.

“As the world’s largest beverage company, we take seriously the need to help consumers balance calories consumed with calories expended,” Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, told FitSugar. “The Coca-Cola mini can innovation reinforces the company’s support for healthy, active lifestyles.”

Watch the promotional video here, in which Jan Tilley, a registered dietician, says the new can sizes will go a long way to help people who simply love Coca-Cola but who also want to manage their calories.

“The size of the packaging really reinforces moderation,” Jan says in the video. “And calling out the calorie content on the front of the label helps people to understand how this will fit into their calorie allotment for the day. Plus it’s fun, it’s cute, it’s portable. People still like to enjoy what they eat and drink, it’s one of the small pleasures in life.”

Celeb Diet Doc
Half a cigarette is still a cigarette. Are cigarettes healthy?  Case closed.

Shepard Smith, the outspoken Fox News host who has become known to speak his mind, says he has found a sign that the Apocalypse is coming. And a new way to commit suicide.

The bacon cheese doughnut burger is made up of lettuce, tomato, cheese, burger, bacon and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Yes, doughnuts. The man who invented the 1500-calorie burger said it came to him to use Krispy Kreme doughnuts when he ran out of burger buns. The burger became a hit at a fair in Massachusetts, but the gastronomic mess has been around for 4 years already.

“You can take a whole bottle of pills. You could get in a car chase and run out and act like you’re going to shoot somebody and let the cops kill you. Or you could just eat one of those,” Shep says in the video.

Celeb Diet Doc..
Hey didn’t they also serve this over at Google?

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Britain’s Department of Health has found a poster boy for their new Change4Life campaign. And it’s none other than the beer-guzzling, doughnut-chowing, lazy slob that is Homer Simpson. An unlikely mascot for healthy eating habits indeed!

The department are about to spend $1 million by sponsoring skits which will be broadcast before episodes of the 22-year-old TV show air. In these sketches, characters from The Simpsons will be sitting on the dysfunctional family’s sofa (exactly like in the intro) eating the kinds of junk food Homer usually wolfs down. But then the food will morph into healthier alternatives.

The British government are hoping that this will encourage viewers to also choose a healthier alternative to junk like ice cream, pizza and doughnuts.

“The Simpsons are a much-loved, close-knit family facing some of the everyday challenges that modern day families go through,” Public Health Minister Gillian Merron said in a statement to Reuters. “Whilst they certainly make some questionable choices about how they go about things, they provide a popular and engaging way to get the message to real-life families about simple ways of improving their diet and activity for a healthier lifestyle.”

Well, good luck to the British.

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It’s no real surprise that a report by the Center for Disease and Control has found that Americans are not eating their daily recommended two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables. But it’s shocking to discover that the number of those who are getting their daily servings had plummeted to a meager 14% of adults and 10% of teenagers. It’s even more shocking when the Department for Health are trying to increase the percentage of Americans meeting the diet recommendations to 75%.

The report, the State Indicator Report of Fruits and Vegetables, 2009, was released this week by the CDC, and ranked states according to the percentage of residents who actually eat two servings a fruit and three servings of vegetables every day.

Here are the full rankings from lowest to highest:

1. Mississippi: 8.8%
2. Oklahoma and South Carolina: 9.3%
3. Alabama: 9.8%
4. South Dakota: 10.1%
5. West Virginia: 10.3%
6. Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina: 10.6%
7. Arkansas and Missouri: 11.2%
8. Louisiana: 11.5%
9. Minnesota: 11.6%
10. Michigan and Nevada: 11.8%
11. Ohio: 12.2%
12. Delaware and Iowa: 12.3%
13. New Mexico: 12.5%
14. Idaho: 13.0%
15. Tennessee: 13.1%
16. Utah: 13.2%
17. Georgia and North Dakota: 13.3%
18. Indiana: 13.5%
19. Illinois and Wisconsin:13.7%
20. Alaska: 13.9%
21. Nebraska: 14.0%
22. Virginia: 14.2%
23. Texas: 14.3%
24. Montana: 14.5%
25. Rhode Island and Wyoming: 14.6%
26. New Jersey: 14.9%
27. Pennsylvania and Washington State: 15.1%
28. Colorado: 15.2%
29. Maryland: 15.4%
30. Florida and Oregon: 15.6%
31. Arizona and California: 16.1%
32. Connecticut and New Hampshire: 16.2%
33. Massachusetts: 16.4%
34. New York: 16.5%
35. Hawaii: 17.5%
36. Maine: 17.7%
37. Vermont: 17.9%
38. Washington DC: 20.1%

“Throughout states and communities, many groups play a role in supporting policy and environmental change to ensure that individuals and families can easily purchase and consume fruit and vegetables,” the report said. “When state officials, health professionals, employers, retail owners, farmers, school staff and community members work together, their efforts can increase the number of Americans who live healthier lives by increasing the availability of affordable healthier food choices such as fruit and vegetables.”

Celeb Diet Doc
Hey no surprise, Americans and folks from many western nations eat like crap. High processed food consumption is leading to exploding rates of obesity and obesity related conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. You are what you eat and for the overwhelming majority of Americans that is junk food.

What I find amazing is that the root cause for many of our chronic illnesses is our calorie rich, nutrient deficient diet yet we continue to believe that all this can be solved by our crazy pill popping society. So yes your doctor may give you medications to put a band-aid on your high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, cerebral vascular disease, etc but you are not getting better, in fact you are getting worse. These medications just treat the numbers but don’t address your real problem which is a crappy diet. So while your cholesterol numbers may come down the underlying disease processes continue to ravage your body.

Don’t get me wrong these meds are necessary for a lot of people to prevent them from getting a whole lot worse but the underlying problem is being ignored.

Eat more veggies and fruit. And if you think you eat enough, you’re wrong. When I do a detailed analysis of folks who claim to eat enough fruits and veggies, their consumption always falls short, way short. Remember the more whole unprocessed foods you consume the healthier you will become. This is stronger than any medicine and a whole lot cheaper.

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]]> http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/the-united-states-is-a-junk-food-nation/feed/ 0 http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/candy-will-make-you-violent/ http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/candy-will-make-you-violent/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:24:04 +0000 Megan http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/?p=5523

A shocking (and almost unbelievable) new study has found a link between eating candy everyday as a kid and adult violence. The research followed more than 17 000 people since 1970 and found that of all the participants, 69% of those who were given candy whenever they asked for it had been violent.

One reasoning for the findings is that when kids are given candy every day, parents are basically giving in to their children’s demands. And when a child’s every demand is met, they don’t learn how to wait to get something they want, pushing them to impulsive and sometimes even criminal behavior.

Another reasoning is that if a child is already “difficult”, they are given sweets as a bride to get them to behave.

“We think that rewarding bad behavior in childhood with confectionary can lead to later problems, but we need to look at this more closely,” Dr Simon Moore, who led the Cardiff University study, told the BBC.

But the study has already been ridiculed.

“Anti-social behavior stems from deep-rooted social and environmental factors, such as poor parenting and a deprived upbringing, and is not linked to whether or not you ate sweeties as a kid,” says Julian Hunt, director of communications for the Food and Drink Federation. “How anyone could leap to such a conclusion is beyond me.”

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