Doctors Mehmet Oz (left) and Mike Roizen, authors and doctors to the stars.
The scent of a smaller waistline
September 09, 2008
Peppermint: You pay better attention to dull-but-must-do jobs when this scent is in the air. When a peppermint scent was wafting, workers made fewer typing mistakes and alphabetized faster.
Cinnamon: In simulated driving tests, a whiff of cinnamon every 15 minutes decreased fatigue. When an endless ribbon of highway stretches ahead, consider popping cinnamon gum.
Grapefruit: It makes you skinny! Researchers speculate that grapefruit the oil's smell has an effect on liver enzymes that might help nix cravings and spur weight loss.
Rosemary: A few minutes of exposure to the scent of this herb helps curb the release of cortisol, a key stress hormone that can prematurely age you by triggering inflammation.
BURN CLEANER ENERGY: Say "get iron," and most people think of beef. But too much red meat can overload you with heme iron, which can boost your risk of type 2 diabetes. Plant-based foods contain only non-heme iron, free of dirty links to diabetes.
It's easy for men to get what they need – about 8 milligrams a day – from food: A cup of cooked spinach contains 6.4 mg. Premenopausal women need about 18 mg a day, so taking a multivitamin with iron is smart, especially since iron from plants tends to be harder to absorb than iron from meat. Help your body soak it up with these tricks:
Eat iron-rich foods with vitamin C-rich foods. (Think oatmeal and O.J., chili with beans.)
Calcium blocks absorption of iron, so separate your spinach and calcium supplement by a few hours. Coffee and tea interfere with iron, so keep those apart, too.
NO-FAT FILLERS: Have you tried the foods out this season that are packed with nutrients but low in calories? These "low-energy-density" foods contain lots of water, fibre and nutrients.
A few on shelves now: apples, figs, plums, eggplant and green beans.
When researchers compared people who ate these wonder foods to people who ate medium- and high-density diets, they found that those who favoured low-energy-density foods ate fewer calories a day, yet got more vitamins A, C and B-6, folate, iron, calcium and potassium.
MOTORCYCLE BOOM: Green with envy over the motorcyclist paying $12 to fill up? The motorcycle might not be such a good deal: The number of motorcyclist fatalities, especially among riders over 40, keeps rising.
According to recent numbers, 47 per cent of riders killed in crashes were 40 or older, up from 30 per cent 10 years earlier. The biggest Harley in the world can't compensate for biological changes once you hit 40: loss of dexterity, diminished night vision, slower reaction times. To make up for that:
1. Allow larger gaps when moving into traffic.
2. Check blind spots carefully.
3. Wear protective attire.
4. The most dangerous times to ride are 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.
DON'T CUT CARBS UNTIL YOU READ THIS: Restricting carbs isn't what peels off pounds. It's increasing non-animal protein and substituting whole-grain carbs for processed carbs. Both help keep your appetite in check.
But is there anything really wrong with high-protein diets that limit your carbs to 50 grams per day? Your brain needs carbohydrates to perform at its best, and many good-for-you carbs – veggies, beans – also contain fibre and phytonutrients, plant substances that increase your defences against heart disease and cancer.
So what's the right balance for weight loss? In one study, people felt much fuller when they ate 30 per cent of their calories from protein, 50 per cent from carbs and got the rest from fat. Later, they were allowed to eat as much as they wanted for 12 weeks – as long as they stuck to the ratio. The result? They ate 450 fewer calories per day and lost about 11 pounds.
The You Docs, Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz, are authors of the best-selling YOU: On a Diet. Send questions to the good doctors on their website, realage.com.