PMS and chocolate 
Monday, March 26, 2007, 03:59 PM - PMS
At a recent dinner party, one of the guests was shocked to learn that we have heard women tell us that they would rather have chocolate than sex, particularly when they have PMS. "You're kidding, right?" he asked. Sadly, no. Chocolate is sought out by women in PMS be it ice cream, bars, candies, cakes, brownies, frosting, cookies, Valentine's candy or whatever holiday it happens to be...you get it. The list goes on.

And while dark chocolate has been in the spotlight for it's healthy anti-oxidant benefits and the arrival the new eco-friendly bars, hot chocolate mixes, ice creams and other desserts containing organic ingredients from the rain forests of Central American, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Chocolate may have it's own mood-enhancing properties, and the fat in most chocolate could be soothing to anyone, but it's the sugar in chocolate that boosts brain serotonin that calms the dramatic mood swings and irritability of PMS and controls the increased appetite that so often increases at this time of the month. It appears that the symptoms are a result of hormonal fluctuations that affect serotonin and it's effect on appetite and mood.

We're not going to tell you you can't enjoy a bite or two of gourmet or full-fat chocolate once in a while. (Try telling that to someone at their PMS worst). And we're not recommending a fat-free diet. What we are trying to tell you is that you can have your cake and eat it too, as long as it's fat free chocolate cake. You won't damage your diet in the process.

We tell our clients who must have chocolate to look for the following:

Chocolate sorbet
No Pudge! Fudge Brownie Mix
Homemade hot chocolate made with fat free milk and dark cocoa (alkali-processed tastes best)
Tootsie rolls
Skinny Cow, Healthy Choice, and other supermarket fat free/low fat frozen desserts
Fat free chocolate breakfast cereals
Popcorn drizzled with fat free chocolate syrup (look for those without high fructose corn syrup)

You can also surf the web for lots of fat free chocolate recipes.

We offer these suggestions for those who cannot live without chocolate and who would otherwise abort their dieting efforts were they required to forgo these treats once in a while.



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Snack or Binge? 
Friday, March 23, 2007, 02:42 AM - Emotional overeating
Many years ago a Boston prize winning marathon runner was asked what he ate each day. In addition to his three large meals, he ate Twinkies, Hostess cupcakes, potato chips, icecream, chocolate chip cookies, brownies and French fries. Every day. The interviewer estimated that he must consume about 9000 calories in snacks alone. That may have been an exaggeration but the runner explained that because he was training most of the day, every day, he had to eat an enormous number of calories to prevent himself from losing weight.

Sigh. Wouldn’t we all like to be in his position except that we would probably have to give up our day jobs to join him. What is so interesting about his description of his daily snack intake is that it sounds so much like a list of binge foods. We have had clients who claim to binge yet could not consume as much food as the marathoner.

There are clinical definitions of a binge and indeed there has been a lot of newspaper coverage of binge eating disorder lately as the latest addition to the list of eating disorders. But for the most of us, a binge is not a psychiatric disorder. Rather, it is a time when we allow ourselves to go a little out of control. We may eat 4 or 5 cookies rather than the one we intended to eat. Or polish off the bag of potato chips when we planned on eating only a handful. The leftover brownies, the almost full quart of ice cream, the half of an apple pie, the broken cookies from a baking session disappear into our mouths without us really intending to eat as much as we do.

Binges happen. Sometimes our emotions just make us lose control and eat more than we intended to and eat the wrong foods. So if it happens, accept it, go back on the diet and when you are feeling calm, see if you can figure out what might have been the trigger. And in the meanwhile, keep eating carbs as we recommend on the Serotonin Power Diet.

Because if you keep eating your carbs every day, there is a good chance the binges will stay away.

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Whom do you want to look like? 
Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 04:43 PM - Tips
I (Judy) live part time in a place where the young and the old co-mingle which makes for a strange and varied assortment of body sizes, dress and lifestyle. This morning as I was going through my workout in the health club, I noticed that everyone around me seemed to be in perfect shape. Their bodies were toned, they were neither too fat nor too thin and despite the early hour, looked vigorous and energetic. And for the most part they were in their twenties, thirties and forties. Several hours later, I was giving a talk in front of a group of mostly women who met monthly in a local community center. Their age ranged from the late sixties to the eighties. With one exception, the 25 of so people were at least 40 pounds overweight, had trouble sitting and standing, and indicated when asked that they rarely if ever exercised. Interestingly, though, when I was talking about a local restaurant whose portions were gigantic and therefore a threat to those on diets, several people wanted the name of the place so they could try it out themselves.

On my way home, I realized that when I was in the gym I felt fat and when I was giving my talk, I felt positively thin. And I wondered how much our motivation to lose weight and to exercise might be influenced by the size and fitness of those with whom we spend most of our time. If I feel lazy during my workout and think of quitting early, all I have to do is look at the sweating vigorous people around me and feel shamed into continuing my own exercise. On the other hand, I imagine if I lived or worked with people who were not terribly concerned with what they ate, or weighed, or keeping fit, I might adopt their lifestyle and become less disciplined in my food choices and exercise regimen.

I think this is why it is so hard to lose weight if people with whom you work or those at home don’t understand the importance of your lifestyle changes. In fact, one of the benefits of going to weight loss support groups is that for a few hours each week, others understand what you are going through and applaud your accomplishments. Having a "buddy" go through a weight loss program with you is an enormous help. If there is no one nearby, find a friend or relative who will do it with you long distance. Use e mail and a cell phone or digital camera to track your progress, discuss your problems and rejoice over your success. And be sure to follow our 12 week road map to weight loss because although we can’t be there with you personally, we have been there and understand what you are going through.

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Treating Menopause: food or drugs? 
Thursday, March 15, 2007, 05:07 PM - Menopause
Could a bowl of oatmeal really be your weapon against the hot flashes, mood swings, sleep disruption, vaginal discomfort, and decreased libido of perimenopause and menopause? Yes, indeed. Serotonin-boosting foods can improve the quality of the menopausal years or at least make the symptoms more tolerable. Foods like potatoes, bread, pasta, and crackers are readily available, effective, safe, and have the added benefit of supporting weight loss. One of our menopausal clients said since starting The Serotonin Power Diet, she was able to sleep through the night for the first time in years. Just getting sleep did wonders for her mood!

You may still decide that supplemental therapy could be of benefit. If so, the list of treatment options includes hormones, vitamins, enzymes, herbs, and minerals including formulations specific to ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and homeopathy. Hormone therapy (estrogen alone or an estrogen-progesterone combination) can be either synthesized de-novo (synthetic) or so-called bio-equivalent which means means it is derived from a plant source such as wild yams or soybeans and therefore thought to be closer to a human form. 5-HTP and L-tryptophan, serotonin precursors, are also used but are most effective in combination with starchy or sweet carbohydrates which allow the precursors to enter the brain where serotonin is made.

With all of these therapies, however, there is risk involved. For example, hormone therapy is associated with an increased risk of cancer and cardiovascular events, and the contents of some "natural" remedies are not scrutinized by appropriate health regulation agencies nor are they often evaluated in reputable clinical trials, so both the risk and benefit can be questionable. At any rate, therapeutic choices must be made individually and with a qualified health care provider.

Our advice is to keep it simple and safe. After all, relief is indeed only a bowl of oatmeal away.
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Warning: some diets can turn you into a B-! 
Tuesday, March 13, 2007, 09:48 AM - Bad mood
"What do you think is a good diet book? Atkins?" asked the elderly, slightly stout woman in the diet book aisle at my local Barnes and Noble.
"Well, I recently lost 40 pounds on Atkins," replied the slim 30-something woman.
I couldn't help jumping in. "Congratulations, that's wonderful!" I said to her. "I'm curious, though, how was your mood?"
The young woman's eyes widened, she took a deep breath, and gave the slightest smile. "I was a total bitch! It was awful."

Fortunately, The Serotonin Power Diet not only keeps you from becoming a dieting monster; in fact, simply following the diet will make you feel great while you lose weight.

People continue to lose weight on many diets out there. If you truly follow any weight loss diet, you will lose weight. Following it, though, is the key. A recent study published on March 7, 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that overweight premenopausal women lost more weight on the Atkins diet compared to the Zone and Dean Ornish diets. The average weight loss over one year was 10.4 pounds compared to 3.5 and 5.7, respectively. (A pound lost is a pound lost, but it's not like any of these diets is going to make the average dieter dramatically slimmer). Some of the study participants were interviewed by journalists, and after losing 23 pounds on Atkins, one woman gained back 15 pounds. Another Atkins loser lost 30 pounds but regained 20 and now follows a different diet to maintain her weight loss. So what does this mean in the long run?

We all want weight loss: it's a great way to feel good about yourself, and it's the single best way to improve your heart health profile.

I'd love to see a study comparing The Serotonin Power Diet to Atkins including how easy it is to follow in the long term as well as assessing the dieter's mood. A diet that allows you the emotional comfort from food will keep most dieters happy. And that's great motivation to stick with any diet.


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