Volumetrics Diet: Fill Up To Lose Weight
Volumetrics is a diet plan developed by nutritionist Barbara Rolls, PhD, with one aim in mind - fill you up with food that is low in calories but high in volume (volumetrics! get it!?). She explains the Volumetrics diet in a 2000 book titled The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan and then in 2005 with The Volumetrics Eating Plan.
First, who is Dr. Rolls? She’s a professor nutrition, the director of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Penn State University, and author of over 200 research articles. She’s not some random Joe Schmoe with a crazy plan and a dream of riches. Her plan is based on her empirical research and I think it has some merits.
So, how does it work? The plan revolves around the concept of energy density - that is the number of calories in a specified amount of food. The denser the food, the less of it you should eat. High density foods include cookies, chips, crackers, oils, nuts, chocolate and candy. Low densite foods include non-starch vegetables, low fat milk - stuff with a lot of water content. Vegetables are 80-95% water, so the idea is that you “fill up” on low energy density foods to quell that hunger urge.
It’s not a particularly innovative diet, in that it’s not some blockbuster straight out of left field idea; it’s stuff nutritionists have been saying this entire time. Personally, I’m going to integrate more vegetables into our meals. I’m a huge fan of broccoli and recently we learned that spinach was remarkably good for you so we’ll be having more of those in the future.
Top Ten Things Only Men Can Do
For your Wednesday afternoon enjoyment, I saw this AskMen.com gem of a top ten list - Top Ten Things Only Men Can Do.
One of my favorites has to be #9 - Hold our liquor simply because the photo is hilarious. I have to contest this one though because even though we may be able to hold our liquor better drink for drink, I think men have a greater propensity to drink more and thus find us less likely to hold our liquor for the entire night. I like the biological explanation though.
As for #5 - play real sports, I have to say that I had a friend once tell me, in jest, that the women’s sports look like men’s sports played underwater. I didn’t say that, a friend did, you judge its accuracy.
My absolute favorite is #3. I’ll leave that up to you to discover which one that is.
Home Grown Vegetables Taste Better
This spring and summer, my wife and I have restarted our patio garden and planted some tomatoes, hot peppers, and bell peppers. So far we’ve only harvested a handful of patio and Roma tomatoes but they’ve tasted fantastic. We did it for several reasons:
- There is entertainment value out of growing your own fruits and vegetables,
- It’s a fantastically frugal way to enjoy freshly picked items,
- It’s cheaper than driving to the store and buying (we hope!),
- You get a lot of satisfaction from being self-sustaining (to a certain extend).
I recently posted a video update on the garden’s progress recently and are eager to pick the eggplants!
There are studies that have shown that organically grown fruits and vegetables, despite being smaller and more expensive, pack more nutrition (vitamins, minerals, and other good stuff) than the conventionally grown stuff. One thing we’ve empirically learned was that the vegetables tasted better than from the store. Now, we don’t know if it’s because we can taste the love and sweat we put into caring for the little guys or if it’s because they’re actually tastier, but they are tastier. 
Weekly Roundup: Dumbells, Thin Thinking & Unreal Biceps
Lazy Man reviews Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells, one of those “dumbbell systems” where you have one set and multiple weight configurations.
Fat Man Unleased has an unreal bicep routine that’ll teach you how to build the ultimate bicep. The image is chilling but the routine seems straightforward and effective.
Kevin at Weight Ladder shares the Beck Diet, which can teach your brain to think like a thin person.
NCN is looking for the best way to cook chicken.
The Good Avocado Superfood
As a child I never had the opportunity to eat much avocado. I’m Chinese and avocado simply didn’t make its way into many, or any, of the meals my mom prepared so I wasn’t exposed to the delicious treat until much later. I think my first try was sometime in college when I tried guacamole, the delicious nacho topper made mostly of avocado. Since then, while I’m not an avocado fiend, I do enjoy its rich creamy flavor both on salads (it makes a great contrast with the crispness of bell peppers and lettuce) and guacamole.
Later on, I discovered that avocado was remarkably good for you. It’s surprisingly rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, the same good stuff that’s in olive oil. Monounsaturated fatty acids has been shown to lower the bad LDL cholesterol levels while increasing the good HDL cholesterol levels. In addition to those benefits, avocados also contain fiber, potassium, magnesium, folate, and antioxidants.
I don’t know if the creators of salsa and guacamole knew this but combining the lycopene in tomatoes and the vitamin E in avocados heightens the positive health benefits of both (especially enhancing antioxidant effects). You add in some onions and the oligosaccharides will boost the tomatoes’ lycopene benefits. Seems like eating lots of salsa and guacamole is pretty good for you.
So, if you’ve never tried avocado, give it a try. If you love the stuff, good for you because it’s good for you too!
(Photo: avlxyz)
Proper Hydration: Clear Urine Is Best
With a double header softball game this afternoon in what will undoubtedly be a hot day, hydration is always on my mind. Dehydration can hit pretty quickly when you’re running around outside in the sun and it can affect your mood and athletic performance in insidious ways. You’ll get moody, cranky, and miserable to be around. Your reaction time will slow, your body will feel more sluggish, and you’ll find yourself preferring to sit out rather than play the next inning. Proper hydration is crucial.
So, what’s the best barometer of hydration? Your urine. Your urine is yellow because of bile. Bile is produced by your liver and used to help break up fat. Afterwards, that bile is broken down and urinated out of the body. Urochrome, a pigment in bile, is what turns your urine yellow. The darker yellow it is, the less water you have in your body. The lighter the better and a dark yellow is a sign of dehydration.
Drink more liquids and pee clear!
Weekly Roundup
Much like Lazy Man, I’m a huge fan of edamame and am surprised to hear that soy products may lower sperm count. Darn darn darn, I need my spermies!
Kevin at Weight Ladder has some good tips for making lifestyle changes.
Israel asks an interesting question, why is it that we’re fatter than animals at the zoo? Rather than being penned up in cages, I think we are penned up in offices and cubicles.
NCN talks about building a food budget - establishing daily caloric intake.
Omega-3 vs. Omega-6 Balance
Earlier this week I wrote about why Omega-3 fatty acids are important and discovered that it’s not only important to eat Omega-3 oils but it’s important to ensure your Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are in proper balance. Both are essential but the proper ratio is necessary because both compete for the same metabolic enzymes. I’m not a Biology major but we know that Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids break down to the products we need (eicosanoids) and that process requires metabolic enzymes, if they’re both fighting for the same ingredients then we need to ensure one doesn’t “starve” out the other.
What’s the ratio healthy ratio? The healthy ratio appears to be anywhere from 1:1 (omega-6 to omega-3) to 4:1. According to JR Hibbeln in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published June 2006, Western diets provide ratios of 10:1 to 30:1, which is far too much Omega-6.
The reason is because the oils we use often have a higher Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio. Corn oil’s ratio is a staggering is 46:1. Popular new oils like Olive oil has anywhere from 3-13:1 and canola is 2:1 but both contain only a small amount.
How do you keep it in balance? Eat a diet rich in Omega-3’s and the it sounds like the Omega-6 will balance itself out. Eat lots of seafood or seeds that contain Omega-3 and everything should work out.
What Are Omega-3 Fatty Acids?
Omega-3 fatty acids are good for you, that’s something we’ve known for quite some time now, but do we know why? I didn’t until I did some research.
Why Omega-3
Omega-3 fatty acids are family of unsaturated fatty acids that your body can’t make itself and it’s an essential nutrient for your body. What exactly is the Omega-3? (warning, chemistry coming up) The three in Omega-3 refers to the fact that the first double bond exists as the third carbon-to-carbon bond in the methyl end of the carbon chain; that’s not important to know though when it comes to why Omega-3’s are important for you but I figured I’d share it anyway.
There are several Omega-3 fatty acids but the three that are the most important are:
- Ξ±-linolenic acid (ALA),
- eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and,
- docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Since your body can’t produce these essential fatty acids, you have to eat them!
What To Eat?
So, what should you be eating to get these fatty acids? ALA is found mostly in seeds such as flax and soybean. EPA and DHA sources are fish oil, such as from cod, salmon, sardins, mackerel and herrings. If you’re not a fan of fish or flax seed, you can simply buy supplements that provide these fatty acids.
Daily Recommended Values
Do you know what the daily recommended values (DV) are for everything on that nutrition label? It’s like budgeting, you don’t know if you’re doing well or doing poorly unless you have a reference point. Daily recommended values is the FDA’s way of setting reference points and it’s important to know what they are, even if it’s only at a high level.
Here are the high level numbers:
- Calories: 2,000
- Fat: 30% of calories - 65g
- Saturated fat: 10% of calories - 20g
- Carbohydrates: 60% of calories
- Protein: 10% of calories
- Fiber: 11.5g per 1,000 calories
- Sodium: 2,400 mg
- Cholesterol: 300 mg
That’s a ballpark estimate, obviously younger people who are growing will need more calories and those who are older will need less.
‘Daily Values’ Encourage Healthy Diet [FDA.gov]
