Published June 15, 2011

E. coli epidemic sprouts attacks against organic vegetables

By now, you’ve probably heard about the horrific epidemic of E. coli fast spreading around Europe. So far, over three dozen people have died and over 1,600 are sick — many needing kidney dialysis or transplants. The source of the outbreak was claimed to be an organic bean sprout farm near Hamburg, Germany. As a result, the attacks against organic foods are on the rise.

Even if this source of E. coli is from organic food, are organics really to blame? First, E. coli is usually a harmless resident of our intestinal tracts. But, even inside us, sometimes our friendly flora can turn nasty. In this case, the E. coli strain has developed genetic traits that make it highly invasive, and toxin producing.

Read More

Published June 10, 2011

Why diets make you gain weight

With summer now upon us, you might want to lose those extra pounds for your trip to the beach. So, you go on a “diet.” While you might lose the weight, the diet itself may make you more prone to gain weight. This is what we call the yo-yo diet. And new research into the diet craze shows why diets don’t work.

Tracy Bale is a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Her team wanted to find out what causes yo-yo diets. Thinking stress might be a factor, the researchers cut food intake in mice by 25%. They did this for three weeks until the rodents lost from 10-15% of original body weight. (This also works in humans.) Then they exposed the mice to mild forms of stress, such as loud noises. The hungry mice had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood. The cortisol also remained around longer than in the controls. The dieting mice were more stressed and took longer to calm down!

Read More

Published June 9, 2011

When losing weight has nothing to do with diet
and exercise

Do you struggle with your weight, your diet, or your level of fitness? There are a lot of books out there about how to lose weight. But every single one of them focuses on what you eat and on exercise. Of course, diet and exercise are critical. However, there’s another side to this equation. And it can make a huge impact on whether you successfully lose weight or not.

Studies show that there’s a huge connection between stress and weight gain. And almost every so-called weight professional out there has missed it. Everyone, that is, except Bill Cortright.

Read More