Wednesday, 30 September 2009
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Monday, 30 March 2009
FAQ - What will happen if I cut carbs out of my diet?
Q) Cutting carbs out of your diet? What will happen if I cut carbs out for a couple of weeks? Have you done it? How did you feel? What were your energy levels like? Concentration? And did you lose any weight? If so, how much?
Only leave a message if you can answer this question. Please don't start rambling on about how cutting out carbs are not good for you! Thanks in advance.
A) If you cut all carbs out of your diet for a couple of weeks (assuming you have got some weight to lose) you will lose weight. It is one of the most effective ways of losing weight.
I research obesity and there is an ongoing debate about whether all calories are the same and I (along with Kekwick & Pawan, Atkins and many others) firmly believe that cutting carbs has more impact than cutting calories. (I just had to observe my brother develop diabetes aged 15 and he lost 20lbs in 10 days simply because he no longer produced any insulin). The only foods that make your body produce insulin are carbs - hence why cutting carbs can have such a dramatic effect.
To have maximum impact you probably want to do the first stage of Atkins, in effect. This allows no more than 20g of carbs each day so this would allow you a small portion of green salad or green vegetables with each of your 2 main meals and NO other carbs. No fruit, rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, coloured vegetables etc.
How will you feel? Possibly not great! Bad breath and constipation are the 2 most commonly reported symptoms. You may well (not certain) suffer low energy in the short term, as the body finds it easier to get energy from carbs, so your body will have quite a shock and may struggle to make energy in the first few days. Some people, however, report feeling quite bright and clear headed (after all - you are also avoiding all processed foods and sugar and other stuff that you are much better off without). So it really varies per person - you could always try it?!
How much you will lose will depend on how much you have to lose. If you are just 7lbs above your natural weight (your natural weight is likely to be somewhere around 20-21 BMI most likely), you will probably lose this in 2 weeks. If you have 100lbs to lose, you could lose 10-20lbs.
The first weight lost in a diet like this is water. This is because the body will raid its store of glycogen the minute you deny it carbs and every gram of glycogen is accompanied by 3-4g of water - so you will lose a few pounds in the first couple of days.
The key challenge will be - can you stick to this? If you can, you will lose weight.
Hope this helps
All the best - Zoe Harcombe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
Only leave a message if you can answer this question. Please don't start rambling on about how cutting out carbs are not good for you! Thanks in advance.
A) If you cut all carbs out of your diet for a couple of weeks (assuming you have got some weight to lose) you will lose weight. It is one of the most effective ways of losing weight.
I research obesity and there is an ongoing debate about whether all calories are the same and I (along with Kekwick & Pawan, Atkins and many others) firmly believe that cutting carbs has more impact than cutting calories. (I just had to observe my brother develop diabetes aged 15 and he lost 20lbs in 10 days simply because he no longer produced any insulin). The only foods that make your body produce insulin are carbs - hence why cutting carbs can have such a dramatic effect.
To have maximum impact you probably want to do the first stage of Atkins, in effect. This allows no more than 20g of carbs each day so this would allow you a small portion of green salad or green vegetables with each of your 2 main meals and NO other carbs. No fruit, rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, coloured vegetables etc.
How will you feel? Possibly not great! Bad breath and constipation are the 2 most commonly reported symptoms. You may well (not certain) suffer low energy in the short term, as the body finds it easier to get energy from carbs, so your body will have quite a shock and may struggle to make energy in the first few days. Some people, however, report feeling quite bright and clear headed (after all - you are also avoiding all processed foods and sugar and other stuff that you are much better off without). So it really varies per person - you could always try it?!
How much you will lose will depend on how much you have to lose. If you are just 7lbs above your natural weight (your natural weight is likely to be somewhere around 20-21 BMI most likely), you will probably lose this in 2 weeks. If you have 100lbs to lose, you could lose 10-20lbs.
The first weight lost in a diet like this is water. This is because the body will raid its store of glycogen the minute you deny it carbs and every gram of glycogen is accompanied by 3-4g of water - so you will lose a few pounds in the first couple of days.
The key challenge will be - can you stick to this? If you can, you will lose weight.
Hope this helps
All the best - Zoe Harcombe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
FAQ - Lose weight for summer time?
Q) How can I lose weight for summer time? Tips and advice needed please. I'm 13 years old and about 5'3-5'4 . I weigh about 108 pounds, so I'm not fat or anything, but I'm very untoned and I want to lose at least 10lbs for summer. Any good exercises to tone stomach, bum and legs ? And any good diet tips etc ?
A) PLEASE don't do this. At 5'4" your current Body Mass Index (BMI) is 18.5 - right at the bottom end of normal. You are tiny! And you are only 13! If you try and lose weight now, you could stunt your growth for ever. If you achieved your 'goal' of no more than 98 pounds in weight, you would be seriously underweight and could end up shorter than you should be for life.
Take any advice that other people give you for toning up (swimming is fantastic for toning and building the 3 S's - strength, stamina and suppleness) but please don't do any diet tips that you may be given.
Enjoy your lovely body as it is now - I bet you can wear any clothes you like and your friends must envy you. I had anorexia at little more than your age - you really don't want to head in that direction.
Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but a lot of people on these pages really do care and we just can't give you advice that would ruin you.
All the best - Zoe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
A) PLEASE don't do this. At 5'4" your current Body Mass Index (BMI) is 18.5 - right at the bottom end of normal. You are tiny! And you are only 13! If you try and lose weight now, you could stunt your growth for ever. If you achieved your 'goal' of no more than 98 pounds in weight, you would be seriously underweight and could end up shorter than you should be for life.
Take any advice that other people give you for toning up (swimming is fantastic for toning and building the 3 S's - strength, stamina and suppleness) but please don't do any diet tips that you may be given.
Enjoy your lovely body as it is now - I bet you can wear any clothes you like and your friends must envy you. I had anorexia at little more than your age - you really don't want to head in that direction.
Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but a lot of people on these pages really do care and we just can't give you advice that would ruin you.
All the best - Zoe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
FAQ - What are transfats?
Q) What are transfats and why are they considered so bad?
A) All fats consist of chain-like molecules. In animal fats these chains are very flexible but the molecules in vegetable oils have rigid kinks, which make them less flexible. The animal fats, with the flexible chains, are solid at room temperature. The vegetable oils, with the more rigid chains, are liquid at room temperature.
About 100 years ago it was discovered that liquid oils could be converted to solid fats by a process called 'hydrogenation'. Hydrogen was literally added to liquid oil until it became a solid fat (hence why these fats are also called hydrogenated fats). This was done because fat in the solid form is much more useful in food manufacture (you can't spread sunflower oil on bread easily, but you can use sunflower spread).
After the Second World War the process for making hydrogenated fats from cheaper sources of vegetable oils was widely adopted. Margarines were developed and marketed as alternatives to butter, and vegetable shortenings increasingly replaced the animal fats traditionally used in cooking.
One of the key problems is that there are natural (real) foods and unnatural (artificial) foods for a reason. The artificial hardening of vegetable oils by hydrogenation leads to chains of molecules, which are not natural and cannot be properly digested by the body.
In terms of The Harcombe Diet, this is all about real food, so we would never support the consumption of manufactured fats of any kind. Fats recommended in The Harcombe Diet are real fats that humans have been eating for thousands of years - meat, fish, eggs, milk, nuts, seeds and so on.
I hope this helps!
Kind regards - Zoe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
A) All fats consist of chain-like molecules. In animal fats these chains are very flexible but the molecules in vegetable oils have rigid kinks, which make them less flexible. The animal fats, with the flexible chains, are solid at room temperature. The vegetable oils, with the more rigid chains, are liquid at room temperature.
About 100 years ago it was discovered that liquid oils could be converted to solid fats by a process called 'hydrogenation'. Hydrogen was literally added to liquid oil until it became a solid fat (hence why these fats are also called hydrogenated fats). This was done because fat in the solid form is much more useful in food manufacture (you can't spread sunflower oil on bread easily, but you can use sunflower spread).
After the Second World War the process for making hydrogenated fats from cheaper sources of vegetable oils was widely adopted. Margarines were developed and marketed as alternatives to butter, and vegetable shortenings increasingly replaced the animal fats traditionally used in cooking.
One of the key problems is that there are natural (real) foods and unnatural (artificial) foods for a reason. The artificial hardening of vegetable oils by hydrogenation leads to chains of molecules, which are not natural and cannot be properly digested by the body.
Back as far as 1975, in my local area of South Wales (at what is now known as the University of Glamorgan), a group of scientists (led by Leo Thomas) did some comprehensive reserach into transfats. They suspected that eating partially hydrogenated fats had a connection with heart disease and this hypothesis was further investigated at the Harvard School of Public Health in the US.
It is now generally accepted that trans-fats are actually worse for our health than the saturated animal fats that they were designed to replace.
Regarding cholesterol, transfats are the worst baddies of all - they lower HDL (good cholesterol) and raise LDL (bad cholesterol) and have the worst overall effect on cholesterol, therefore.In terms of The Harcombe Diet, this is all about real food, so we would never support the consumption of manufactured fats of any kind. Fats recommended in The Harcombe Diet are real fats that humans have been eating for thousands of years - meat, fish, eggs, milk, nuts, seeds and so on.
I hope this helps!
Kind regards - Zoe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
Friday, 13 March 2009
FAQ - What percentage of body fat is water, if any?
Q) What percentage of body fat is water, if any? A friend of mine insists that if we can compress the body fat that it will "melt" away and then we urinate it out. Please provide references to support your answer. Thanks.
A) The best way to look at this is to start with a whole body.
Let's take an average (70kg) male. He will be made up of approximately 42kg of water; 12kg of fat; 12 kg of protein and 4 kg of bone/minerals. This makes his total body water content approximately 60% and his total body fat approximately 17% (water and fat being the two you're interested in).
(The World Health Organisation healthy body composition tables say that a 20-40 year old man should have 8-19% body fat and a 40-60 year old man should have a 11-22% body fat. (Women should have 21-33% body fat when they are aged between 20-40 and 23-35% between 40 and 60). So, our chap, at 70kg and 17% body fat is normal and healthy.)
Your question is interesting because it gets to the next level of - where is the water? Hanging on to the fact that our average man is 60% water, different parts of the body have very different water compositions. Blood, for example, is approximately 83% water. Body fat can be as low as 10% water. But all this water added together still adds up to the whole 60%.
So, yes, there is water in body fat - approximately 10% - but there is way more water everywhere else in the body. Here's a few other things that may be interesting (as your question is quite broad):
1) I just don't see how your friend thinks you can compress body fat! Are you planning to squash each other or something?! An apple is probably 90% water and, even if you smash it with a hammer, you won't get all the water out! The way to get the water out would be to apply heat (e.g. boil the apple, a person sits in a sauna) and then you will lose water from all over the body.
2) You don't want to lose water - as soon as a person loses just 2.5% of their body weight from water loss, they lose 25% of their physical and mental abilities and efficiency. For our example man this would only takes just two litres of water to be lost.
3) At the 'whole body' level, the more fat a person has, the lower the percentage of water in their body i.e. the percentage of body weight that is water varies inversely with body fat. This explains why women have a higher fat content than men and a lower water % and why obese people have a lower water % than normal weight people. You don't want to lower your water % therefore (which is what urination is the end result of). You probably want to lower your fat %.
4) If the end goal of all this is to lose weight, you can lose water weight very quickly by crash-dieting (not good), as the body will use up its stores of glycogen to keep you going and glycogen holds a lot of water with it. As soon as you eat normally again, you'll put all the glycogen back in the storage room and the water goes back with it.
5) To lose fat, I don't subscribe to the calorie theory (create a deficit of 3500 calories to lose 1lb). I think eating less just makes you want to eat more, makes you store fat and slows your metabolism. Just eat nothing but real food for as long as you need to lose weight (meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, vegetables, salads, fruit, brown rice and not much else) and you can't go far wrong.
Hope this helps! Zoe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
A) The best way to look at this is to start with a whole body.
Let's take an average (70kg) male. He will be made up of approximately 42kg of water; 12kg of fat; 12 kg of protein and 4 kg of bone/minerals. This makes his total body water content approximately 60% and his total body fat approximately 17% (water and fat being the two you're interested in).
(The World Health Organisation healthy body composition tables say that a 20-40 year old man should have 8-19% body fat and a 40-60 year old man should have a 11-22% body fat. (Women should have 21-33% body fat when they are aged between 20-40 and 23-35% between 40 and 60). So, our chap, at 70kg and 17% body fat is normal and healthy.)
Your question is interesting because it gets to the next level of - where is the water? Hanging on to the fact that our average man is 60% water, different parts of the body have very different water compositions. Blood, for example, is approximately 83% water. Body fat can be as low as 10% water. But all this water added together still adds up to the whole 60%.
So, yes, there is water in body fat - approximately 10% - but there is way more water everywhere else in the body. Here's a few other things that may be interesting (as your question is quite broad):
1) I just don't see how your friend thinks you can compress body fat! Are you planning to squash each other or something?! An apple is probably 90% water and, even if you smash it with a hammer, you won't get all the water out! The way to get the water out would be to apply heat (e.g. boil the apple, a person sits in a sauna) and then you will lose water from all over the body.
2) You don't want to lose water - as soon as a person loses just 2.5% of their body weight from water loss, they lose 25% of their physical and mental abilities and efficiency. For our example man this would only takes just two litres of water to be lost.
3) At the 'whole body' level, the more fat a person has, the lower the percentage of water in their body i.e. the percentage of body weight that is water varies inversely with body fat. This explains why women have a higher fat content than men and a lower water % and why obese people have a lower water % than normal weight people. You don't want to lower your water % therefore (which is what urination is the end result of). You probably want to lower your fat %.
4) If the end goal of all this is to lose weight, you can lose water weight very quickly by crash-dieting (not good), as the body will use up its stores of glycogen to keep you going and glycogen holds a lot of water with it. As soon as you eat normally again, you'll put all the glycogen back in the storage room and the water goes back with it.
5) To lose fat, I don't subscribe to the calorie theory (create a deficit of 3500 calories to lose 1lb). I think eating less just makes you want to eat more, makes you store fat and slows your metabolism. Just eat nothing but real food for as long as you need to lose weight (meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, vegetables, salads, fruit, brown rice and not much else) and you can't go far wrong.
Hope this helps! Zoe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
Sunday, 8 March 2009
FAQ - Can I have lemon juice in hot water in the morning?
Q) I was just wondering if it would be okay to have a fresh squeezed lemon in hot water in the morning. I have read that this is very good for getting your metabolism going, I just wonder what you think about it, do you think it is beneficial? I've read your books and can see the
extensive research you have done and value your opinion.
A) This is a question I haven't had before! They're always my favourites! The simple answer to your question is - yes it is OK, unless you care about the enamel of your teeth, as lemon juice in the mouth (let alone warm lemon juice!) is really not good for your teeth. Teeth aside, in
terms of is it beneficial or not, I can't see any real benefit. The key thing to get your metabolism going in the morning is to 'break' the 'fast' i.e. to have breakfast/eat something. The body won't register that anything has changed if you drink plain water and I can't see that a tiny bit of lemon juice added is going to 'wake the body up' in any significant way. You're so much better off just getting your bowl of porridge down you soon after waking!
I found the article below (from the Daily Mail Dec 2007) about the idea of lemon being of benefit to digestion. I can't buy into this at all....
The mouth is alkaline (a good environment for teeth) and the stomach is highly acidic. So, 1) you don't need lemon juice to make the stomach even more acidic (it may just give you tummy ache) 2) you don't want to turn the mouth acidic instead of alkaline a) for teeth and b) because
the alkaline state of the mouth is perfect for carbs to start being digested. Hence, if you have your lemon juice and then porridge while the mouth may still be acidic, you will be trying to digest a carb in the wrong environment.
The bottom line would be - if you really enjoy it and your teeth are not a worry then it won't do too much harm but I can't see it doing any good!
Hope this helps
All the best - Zoe
Lose weight for Christmas with the Lemon Juice Diet (extract from The Daily Mail)
By LOUISE ATKINSON
Last updated at 15:54 11 December 2007
Drink lemon juice with warm water every morning to stimulate your digestive system.
Hoping to lose a few pounds before Christmas but gloomy about your chances of success with conventional diets? Then lemons could be the answer.
In a new book, The Lemon Juice Diet, leading health writer Theresa Cheung suggests that the reason so many of us battle with our weight is because our digestive systems are not working properly - and that the conventional dieting process tends to exacerbate that.
However, including lemons in your diet - both juice and peel - will boost your digestion and, if you also eat healthily and exercise, can help you lose weight.
"Research seems to show that if your digestive system is not working correctly, healthy weight-loss is almost impossible," says Cheung. "The problem is that poor digestion can stop your body getting the nutrients it needs to burn fat. It can also cause a build-up of toxins in your body, leaving you feeling sluggish and depressed.
"This, in turn, slows down your metabolism, making any weight-loss goals unattainable."
The solution is lemons. "When it comes to boosting the body's digestive and detox systems, lemon is a natural powerhouse," says Cheung.
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
extensive research you have done and value your opinion.
A) This is a question I haven't had before! They're always my favourites! The simple answer to your question is - yes it is OK, unless you care about the enamel of your teeth, as lemon juice in the mouth (let alone warm lemon juice!) is really not good for your teeth. Teeth aside, in
terms of is it beneficial or not, I can't see any real benefit. The key thing to get your metabolism going in the morning is to 'break' the 'fast' i.e. to have breakfast/eat something. The body won't register that anything has changed if you drink plain water and I can't see that a tiny bit of lemon juice added is going to 'wake the body up' in any significant way. You're so much better off just getting your bowl of porridge down you soon after waking!
I found the article below (from the Daily Mail Dec 2007) about the idea of lemon being of benefit to digestion. I can't buy into this at all....
The mouth is alkaline (a good environment for teeth) and the stomach is highly acidic. So, 1) you don't need lemon juice to make the stomach even more acidic (it may just give you tummy ache) 2) you don't want to turn the mouth acidic instead of alkaline a) for teeth and b) because
the alkaline state of the mouth is perfect for carbs to start being digested. Hence, if you have your lemon juice and then porridge while the mouth may still be acidic, you will be trying to digest a carb in the wrong environment.
The bottom line would be - if you really enjoy it and your teeth are not a worry then it won't do too much harm but I can't see it doing any good!
Hope this helps
All the best - Zoe
Lose weight for Christmas with the Lemon Juice Diet (extract from The Daily Mail)
By LOUISE ATKINSON
Last updated at 15:54 11 December 2007
Drink lemon juice with warm water every morning to stimulate your digestive system.
Hoping to lose a few pounds before Christmas but gloomy about your chances of success with conventional diets? Then lemons could be the answer.
In a new book, The Lemon Juice Diet, leading health writer Theresa Cheung suggests that the reason so many of us battle with our weight is because our digestive systems are not working properly - and that the conventional dieting process tends to exacerbate that.
However, including lemons in your diet - both juice and peel - will boost your digestion and, if you also eat healthily and exercise, can help you lose weight.
"Research seems to show that if your digestive system is not working correctly, healthy weight-loss is almost impossible," says Cheung. "The problem is that poor digestion can stop your body getting the nutrients it needs to burn fat. It can also cause a build-up of toxins in your body, leaving you feeling sluggish and depressed.
"This, in turn, slows down your metabolism, making any weight-loss goals unattainable."
The solution is lemons. "When it comes to boosting the body's digestive and detox systems, lemon is a natural powerhouse," says Cheung.
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
FAQ - Is red wine really good with meals?!
Q) Is red wine really good with meals?
A) Yes! Red wine does help with the digestion of red meat. Grape juice and some salads can produce the same beneficial effect, but who is going to listen to that when they've just been given the perfect excuse to drink red wine?!
In a report published in the "Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry" an Israeli group of researchers (including pharmaceutical researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and gastrointestinal specialists at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem) found that the stomach IS better able to digest red meat in the presence of red wine. They found that red wine helps the stomach remove potentially harmful substances found in red meats, which are released during digestion, before the chemicals can do the body harm.
The harmful chemicals from red meat, which red wine removes, are associated with diseases such as atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer, particularly colon cancer. Not good chemicals to have hanging around in the body, therefore.
For the study, the scientists fed 25 rats turkey thigh meat cutlets (this particular meat produces high levels of the chemicals in question when digested). (This is so funny!) ... With the meal, the rats were served either water or red-wine concentrate and then, about 90 minutes after the meal, the scientists examined the rats' stomachs.
They found that when the thigh meat was served with red wine, the level of one of the chemicals in the stomach was three times lower compared to the stomachs of rats that did not have wine. The amount of another chemical was twice as low for rats that were served red wine.
The scientists repeated the experiment with alcohol-free red wine and achieved similar results, which lead the researchers to conclude that it is not the alcohol itself causing the effect, but a group of antioxidants called polyphenols, which are likely the reason behind the results.
This observation - that it is the antioxidants having the good effect - is what leads to the conclusion that it is not necessary to get polyphenols from red wine alone. Grape juice or a good portion of salad could counter-balance red meat in much the same way. You take your choice!
Thank you to my hubby for that question!
All the best - Zoe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
A) Yes! Red wine does help with the digestion of red meat. Grape juice and some salads can produce the same beneficial effect, but who is going to listen to that when they've just been given the perfect excuse to drink red wine?!
In a report published in the "Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry" an Israeli group of researchers (including pharmaceutical researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and gastrointestinal specialists at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem) found that the stomach IS better able to digest red meat in the presence of red wine. They found that red wine helps the stomach remove potentially harmful substances found in red meats, which are released during digestion, before the chemicals can do the body harm.
The harmful chemicals from red meat, which red wine removes, are associated with diseases such as atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer, particularly colon cancer. Not good chemicals to have hanging around in the body, therefore.
For the study, the scientists fed 25 rats turkey thigh meat cutlets (this particular meat produces high levels of the chemicals in question when digested). (This is so funny!) ... With the meal, the rats were served either water or red-wine concentrate and then, about 90 minutes after the meal, the scientists examined the rats' stomachs.
They found that when the thigh meat was served with red wine, the level of one of the chemicals in the stomach was three times lower compared to the stomachs of rats that did not have wine. The amount of another chemical was twice as low for rats that were served red wine.
The scientists repeated the experiment with alcohol-free red wine and achieved similar results, which lead the researchers to conclude that it is not the alcohol itself causing the effect, but a group of antioxidants called polyphenols, which are likely the reason behind the results.
This observation - that it is the antioxidants having the good effect - is what leads to the conclusion that it is not necessary to get polyphenols from red wine alone. Grape juice or a good portion of salad could counter-balance red meat in much the same way. You take your choice!
Thank you to my hubby for that question!
All the best - Zoe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
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