Salty Six: Foods to Avoid for Better Health

High sodium levels cause heart disease and some foods have a surprisingly high salt content. Check out the AHA Salty Six list, foods to avoid for better health.

Salty Six is a generic term for 6 foods identified by the American Heart Association (AHA) as having surprisingly high levels of sodium, dangerous for cardiovascular health. Find out which seemingly innocent foods contain so much salt, that eating them in restricted portions can become a necessity.

Excess sodium in foods often comes from the food itself, not from adding a pinch of salt. According to AHA, more than 75% of the sodium intake comes from processed or restaurant foods. Take a look at the Salty Six food list and find out which foods you eat may contain very high levels of sodium.

Salty Six Foods: Bread and rolls

A single piece of bread may contain up to 230 mg of sodium, so the salt levels quickly add up when you eat bread and rolls with each meal. Cut back on bread, especially white bread.

Salty Six Food List: Cold Cuts and Cured Meats

Added to most cooked and processed meats, sodium prevents spoilage, but isn't good for the heart. Pre-packaged or deli turkey can contain over 1000 mg of sodium.

Salty Six Bad Foods: Pizza

A single slice of pizza contains up to 760 mg of sodium, making two slices enough for a full day's recommended salt intake. Vegetarian pizza can have less sodium, but the levels remain high.

Salty Six Foods: Poultry

Raw chicken contains salt and the sodium levels can get very high during preparation. Processed chicken is worse: 600 mg of sodium are hiding in only 3 ounces of frozen and breaded nuggets.

Salty Six Food List: Soup

Canned soup can quickly fill up most of the daily recommended sodium intake in just one serving. A single cup of canned chicken soup can contain as much as 940 mg of sodium.

Salty Six Bad Foods: Sandwiches

Combining bread and cured meats with other salty condiments in a sandwich creates a sodium bomb. With ketchup and mustard, a single sandwich can have over 1,500 mg of sodium.

The DASH Diet and the Salty Six Foods

The American Heart Association advises that the daily limit of sodium should be 1,500 milligrams, smaller than the US Department of Agriculture recommendation of a maximum of 2,300 milligrams.

For maximum health, AHA promotes the DASH diet, a set of recommendations for everyone, not just for those who are suffering from cardiovascular problems. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension include few sodium rich foods, for a healthy lifestyle that can also contribute to weight loss.

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Simple Tricks for Better Weight Loss Results

Weight loss is undoubtedly a complex subject and, as a result, the strategies used to tackle the specific challenges that this process poses tend to be very different at times. Learn how to fine tune your goals by using simple strategies that can yield surprising results.

From cutting calories to avoiding ineffective exercises, the directions that should be followed in order to get a slimmer figure are fairly well known. However, making sure that you have everything cared for down to the latest details is one of the best ways to improve your chances for successful weight loss. Here are some ideas that might prove useful:

Avoid delicious smells
Have you already moved healthy foods into clear containers while putting fattening ones in opaque containers? Good. Now take it one step further: take a look in your bath. Do you have lots of products with scents like chocolate, vanilla or other delicious food scents? These might weaken your willpower to stick to your diet as they can trigger cravings for high calorie foods. Avoid over-testing your motivation and self-discipline by keeping these products out of sight.

Build your plate
Wondering how the right portions should look in order to keep your calories in check? Then go for volume. More specifically, fill two thirds of your plate with veggies to get satisfied with less calories while also getting vital nutrients that can not be found as abundantly in other food groups.

Ditch energy bars
It is tempting to believe that foods created for athletes can also prove to be beneficial for the average person who exercises. However, this thinking pattern can make us take in more calories than we really need, thus sabotaging our diet. Unless you exercise for 2 hours or more a day, these products are not necessary, especially since they have a high sugar content.

Try mini-dieting
Staying on a diet for prolonged periods of time is perhaps the main challenge a dieter faces and the most likely cause of failure. However, cutting 650 calories for two days a week can help you get to your goals easier according to Prevention experts. This strategy can even offer benefits that lead to weight loss according to the same source.

Plan your grocery shopping sessions and pay with cash
Filled with temptations virtually everywhere you look, supermarkets can be a drain on your budget as well as your self-discipline. Limiting the time you spend , grocery shopping along with using cash make you more aware of how much you are really spending. Placing forbidden foods on the part near the handle of the shopping cart can also greatly limit the number of things you buy.

Photo Credit: Thinkstock Photos

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Yogurt lovers have better diets

Jan. 24, 2013 at 5:59 PM ET

By Cari Nierenberg

MyHealthNewsDaily

People who like yogurt may be enjoying more than its taste and texture. They also may be enjoying a better-balanced diet and getting more key nutrients than people who never eat the cultured dairy product, ?new research shows.

As a group, people who said they ate yogurt also reported consuming higher amounts of other good-for-you foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish and whole grains, than did people who didn't eat yogurt. And their diets obtained fewer calories from processed meats, refined grains and beer than did the diets of non-yogurt eaters, according to the study, which received some funding from a yogurt manufacturer.

The peer-reviewed findings are available online in the journal Nutrition Research.

"Yogurt is a very good source of many shortfall nutrients – calcium, potassium, and magnesium – that Americans don't currently consume enough of," said study author Paul Jacques of ?Tufts University.? "Yogurt is a good way to meet your dietary requirements for nutrients that you may not be currently eating."

Jacques is director of the nutrition epidemiology laboratory at the university's Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.

For this observational study, researchers analyzed data collected from slightly more than 6,500 adults, ages 19 to 89, all of them either the children or grandchildren of the original participants in the Framingham Heart Study. That Massachusetts-based study, which began in 1948 and followed its subjects for nearly 50 years, attempted to identify common causes of heart attack and stroke in a large group of people who had not yet developed these problems.

All the men and women in the yogurt study filled out a 126-item questionnaire, indicating how frequently they had eaten certain foods during the previous year.?

Boosting shortfall nutrients

People participating in the study were asked to recall how often they ate a one-cup serving of yogurt. Their response was based on a 9-point scale, which ranged from a low of "never or less than one serving a month" to a high of "more than six servings a day."

Researchers found that 53.8 percent of the participants ate yogurt. (Among the women, 64 percent were yogurt-eaters; among the men, 41 percent were.) The average amount of yogurt eaten was two and one-quarter cups a week. Yogurt accounted for between 1 percent and 6 percent of daily calories depending upon how much people ate.

In addition to having a better-quality diet, the men and women who regularly spooned in some yogurt had higher potassium intakes. They also were 48 percent less likely to have inadequate levels of calcium; 38 percent less likely to be deficient in magnesium; and 55 percent less apt to have shortfalls of vitamin B12, a nutrient lacking in some older people's diets.?

"We found that yogurt consumers had higher intakes of just about every nutrient we measured," Jacques said. "If people substitute yogurt for less healthy foods in the diet, it may help eliminate the inadequate intake of shortfall nutrients."

A milk alternative

The data were collected between 1998 and 2005, before the Greek yogurt boom hit the U.S.? Even now, however, levels of yogurt consumption in the U.S. lag behind those seen in some European countries and parts of the Middle East.

In fact, very few American adults meet the overall dietary guideline for dairy products, which calls for three servings a day of milk and other low-fat dairy products. One serving is considered one cup of cow's milk, soy milk or yogurt; one and a half ounces of a hard cheese like Swiss or cheddar; or two cups of cottage cheese, for example.

A one-cup serving of low-fat yogurt has a similar nutrition profile to that of a cup of low-fat milk but with roughly 50 percent more potassium, calcium, and magnesium, the researchers pointed out.

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Analysis Reveals That Slimming World Programme Successfully Helps People Of All Sizes To Lose Weight Equally, While Men Do Better Than Women

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 14 May 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Analysis Reveals That Slimming World Programme Successfully Helps People Of All Sizes To Lose Weight Equally, While Men Do Better Than Women

A new study of 1.2 million self-funded Slimming World members - presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity in Liverpool, UK - reveals that people of all sizes, from slightly overweight to severely overweight in the higher body-mass index (BMI) range are equally likely to lose weight through a programme based on healthy lifestyle behaviour change. The research, the largest ever audit of a lifestyle-based weight management programme, was conducted by Slimming World's research team, led by Dr Jacquie Lavin at their headquarters in Alfreton, Derbyshire, UK.

Crucially, while many previous studies from a range of commercial weight loss services have focused on the small proportion of patients (approximately 2-5%) who are referred by their general practitioner or other health professional, this new study represents the approximately 95-98% of members who fund their own membership, so can be said to be representative of the overweight population at large.

The majority of adults in the UK--around 30 million people--are now overweight or obese. Weight management on a national scale requires behavioural and lifestyle solutions that are accessible to large numbers of people. Slimming World holds over 10,000 weekly weight management groups in community venues across the UK supporting up to 500,000 people each week. Members have their weight changes recorded on a digital card system so that their progress can be monitored throughout their membership. Some members opt for relatively short periods attending group sessions because they have less weight to lose. Others, especially those with higher body-mass index (BMI)--which places them in the obese category at the beginning of their weight loss journey--benefit from long-term support to help them reach their goals.

In this study, the digitally collected weekly weight records were collated for self-funding members of Slimming World joining between January 2010 and April 2012. Weight change outcomes in 1,264,291 adult participants during their first three months' attendance have been analysed. A separate abstract analyses weight outcomes from the same cohort for nearly 72,000 members who engaged with the programme for 12 months.

Mean BMI for the 1.2 million at the start of the programme was 32.6kg/m2, mean age was 42 years and 5% of the programme's users (63,123) were men. Overall, at the end of three months, BMI change across the whole study group was -1.5kg/m2, weight change -4.2kg, percent weight change -4.7%. Sessions attended varied from two to 13.

For participants attending at least 75% of sessions (478,772 members), mean BMI change was -2.5kg/m2, weight change -6.8kg, and percent weight change -7.5%. Longer term analysis of the 71,989 high-engagers who, between January 2010 and June 2011 had attended at least 75% of sessions over a 12 month period (and presented in a separate abstract) shows that members who engage for longer tend to have a higher BMI at baseline (mean 34.5kg/m2). The mean number of weeks attended was 45.4 (85.7% of possible sessions) with -12.7kg weight change, a percent weight loss of 13.2%, and BMI change of -4.7kg/m2.

Further analysis revealed that men had attended on average nine sessions over the three months, compared with eight for women. A greater proportion of men featured in the higher BMI categories before starting: almost half (46%) of male joiners had a BMI over 35kg/m2 with 20% over 40kg/m2. This is compared to women, of whom 29% of joiners had BMIs over 35kg/m2 with one in eight (12%) over 40kg/m2. Men were found to lose more weight than women: 7kg on average compared with 4kg for women. Average per cent weight loss was 6.1% for men and 4.6% for women.

Overall the programme was equally effective across the whole range of BMIs, with average weight loss for those with a BMI under 30 kg/m2 (classed as overweight) being 4.5%; those with BMI 30-35 kg/m2 (obese) and 35-40 kg/m2 (very obese) both 4.8%, and the highest BMI group, over 40 (severely obese) 4.7%.

Dr Lavin says: "This is the largest ever audit of a lifestyle-based weight management programme, and is proof that Slimming World has a significant impact on the health of the nation. Our programme is a practical option for weight management strategies in the community, achieving large-scale, clinically safe and effective weight loss. These results also confirm that whether you have a small or larger amount of weight to lose the programme is equally effective, contradicting a popular belief that people who have a significant amount of weight to lose need more radical solutions. While the 1.2 million dataset looks at weight losses over members' first three months, the analysis we've done for nearly 72,000 members that stayed with us for 12 months shows a clinically significant mean weight loss of 13.2%.

"This data also gives a clear indication that members who attend sessions most frequently and regularly - at least 9 sessions over their initial three months - achieve the highest weight losses. And, as our 12 month data shows, those who have a great deal of weight to lose benefit most from ongoing regular support for behaviour change to adopt new healthy eating and activity habits. Every week at group sessions members discuss ways to overcome emotional and psychological as well as physical barriers to their success. They share practical tips and ideas in a safe, compassionate and powerfully motivating environment facilitated by highly trained consultants who are former members.

She adds: "From a government perspective, this study is particularly good news because it shows that many people have been able to lose weight after referring themselves at no cost to the NHS, and will continue to do so.

"This study refers to self-referring members, which represent the vast majority of our membership. However, with around two-thirds of UK adults now overweight or obese, it's essential that health authorities across the UK continue to strengthen their relationship with commercial weight management programmes such as Slimming World so that they can also refer their patients to help them lose weight, become healthier, and avoid the impact of chronic weight-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and other consequences of obesity."

Asked why men appear to do better than women, Dr Lavin adds: "The size of this dataset is unprecedented and we're only just scratching the surface of the insights it will give us. Our initial analysis shows that men lose a little more weight than women, but we haven't yet been able to analyse why that is. There's a huge opportunity to interrogate the data more deeply and something that we will keep our research team busy for some time. What is good news however is that the data shows that all our members are losing weight - men, women, those with higher BMIs and those from some of the most deprived areas of the country. The most important message coming through from the data is that those who engage regularly and consistently attend weight loss sessions are the most likely to successfully lose weight."

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Statins Tied to Better Prostate Cancer Outcomes

A new study suggests that men with prostate cancer who take statins may have a lower risk of dying from the disease than those who do not.

Statins are not recommended for prostate cancer prevention or treatment. But researchers studied 1,001 prostate cancer patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2005, of whom 289 used statins, which are given mainly to lower cholesterol. They followed them for an average of six years, during which there were 123 total deaths, 39 from prostate cancer.

The study, published online last week in The Prostate, found no association of statins with recurrence or progression of prostate cancer, or with death from any other cause. But after controlling for age, smoking, body mass index, severity of disease, type of treatment, history of diabetes and many other variables, they found that non-users were five times as likely to die of prostate cancer as those who used statins.

“This raises the flag that these medications may be useful for secondary prevention,” said the senior author, Janet L. Stanford, a professor of epidemiology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, “and may warrant doing a clinical study to test in a randomized trial whether these meds can help reduce mortality.”

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