Middle-Age Weight Gain: How to Lose It

By Amy Paturel
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by David T. Derrer, MD

Your jeans feel tighter, but you're eating and exercising about as much as you have for years. What's up with that?

You have a couple of things working against you. You're probably not burning calories as efficiently as you did when you were younger. That's because your metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn in a day) dips about 1% per year beginning around age 30, says Carolyn Brown, RD, nutritionist at Foodtrainers in New York.

You can outsmart that. Shift a few habits so you can rev your body back up.

Start with these five strategies.

1. Amp Up Protein

Protein is the building block of muscle, and since muscle mass diminishes as you age, you need even more protein.

“Starting at middle age, you need 10% more protein than you did during your younger years,” says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD, author of Doctor’s Detox Diet: The Ultimate Weight Loss Prescription.

A bonus: Foods that are high in protein pack a greater metabolic boost than fat or carbohydrates. Biting, chewing, swallowing, and digesting protein-rich foods can burn up to 30% of the calories on your plate, compared to 5% for fat and carbs.

Do this: Nosh on Greek yogurt, eggs, cottage cheese, or lox within 2 hours of waking up.

2. Tame Your Stress

The stress hormone cortisol is tied to an accumulation of fat around your midriff. And midlife can be a stressful time, says Florence Comite, MD, an endocrinologist in New York.

Chronic stress can also affect how well your body responds to insulin, which controls your blood sugar, Comite says.

Eliminating as much stress as possible from your daily routine will help cut the amount of cortisol your body makes.  

Do this: Meditate. Just 10 minutes of mindful meditation can make a difference, Comite says.

3. Don’t Skimp on Sleep

When you're short on sleep, your appetite kicks into higher gear. In one study of some 68,000 women, those who slept for 5 or fewer hours each night gained 2.5 pounds more than those sleeping 7 hours a night.

Do this: Set a soothing bedtime routine that includes turning off all screens at least one hour before bed.

4. Get Stronger

The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even when you’re at rest. But you start losing muscle mass around age 40, Gerbstadt says.

Resistance training helps. Keeping your muscles strong makes it easier to maintain your weight.

Do this: Use weights that are heavy enough to exhaust your muscles with 12 repetitions, yet light enough to complete at least eight repetitions. Do lunges, squats, dead lifts, and pushups (12-15 repetitions per set). Or, if you're not into weightlifting, do yoga or other exercises that use your own body weight for resistance.

5. Clean Up Your Diet

It's true: You can't eat the way you used to, without some consequences.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate the most refined foods (like sugar, white bread, cookies, and cakes) developed significantly more belly fat than those who consumed the same number of calories from less processed foods.

Do this: Always have healthy snacks on hand. Keep almonds in your pocketbook, trail mix in your desk drawer, and hard-boiled eggs in the fridge.

source : Middle-Age Weight Gain: How to Lose It

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Middle-Age Weight Gain: How to Lose It

By Amy Paturel
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by David T. Derrer, MD

Your jeans feel tighter, but you're eating and exercising about as much as you have for years. What's up with that?

You have a couple of things working against you. You're probably not burning calories as efficiently as you did when you were younger. That's because your metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn in a day) dips about 1% per year beginning around age 30, says Carolyn Brown, RD, nutritionist at Foodtrainers in New York.

You can outsmart that. Shift a few habits so you can rev your body back up.

Start with these five strategies.

1. Amp Up Protein

Protein is the building block of muscle, and since muscle mass diminishes as you age, you need even more protein.

“Starting at middle age, you need 10% more protein than you did during your younger years,” says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD, author of Doctor’s Detox Diet: The Ultimate Weight Loss Prescription.

A bonus: Foods that are high in protein pack a greater metabolic boost than fat or carbohydrates. Biting, chewing, swallowing, and digesting protein-rich foods can burn up to 30% of the calories on your plate, compared to 5% for fat and carbs.

Do this: Nosh on Greek yogurt, eggs, cottage cheese, or lox within 2 hours of waking up.

2. Tame Your Stress

The stress hormone cortisol is tied to an accumulation of fat around your midriff. And midlife can be a stressful time, says Florence Comite, MD, an endocrinologist in New York.

Chronic stress can also affect how well your body responds to insulin, which controls your blood sugar, Comite says.

Eliminating as much stress as possible from your daily routine will help cut the amount of cortisol your body makes.  

Do this: Meditate. Just 10 minutes of mindful meditation can make a difference, Comite says.

3. Don’t Skimp on Sleep

When you're short on sleep, your appetite kicks into higher gear. In one study of some 68,000 women, those who slept for 5 or fewer hours each night gained 2.5 pounds more than those sleeping 7 hours a night.

Do this: Set a soothing bedtime routine that includes turning off all screens at least one hour before bed.

4. Get Stronger

The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even when you’re at rest. But you start losing muscle mass around age 40, Gerbstadt says.

Resistance training helps. Keeping your muscles strong makes it easier to maintain your weight.

Do this: Use weights that are heavy enough to exhaust your muscles with 12 repetitions, yet light enough to complete at least eight repetitions. Do lunges, squats, dead lifts, and pushups (12-15 repetitions per set). Or, if you're not into weightlifting, do yoga or other exercises that use your own body weight for resistance.

5. Clean Up Your Diet

It's true: You can't eat the way you used to, without some consequences.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate the most refined foods (like sugar, white bread, cookies, and cakes) developed significantly more belly fat than those who consumed the same number of calories from less processed foods.

Do this: Always have healthy snacks on hand. Keep almonds in your pocketbook, trail mix in your desk drawer, and hard-boiled eggs in the fridge.

source : Middle-Age Weight Gain: How to Lose It

Read more →

Study Sheds Light on Cannabis and Paranoia

By Peter Russell
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Rob Hicks, MD

July 17, 2014 -- An in-depth investigation has concluded that people who smoke cannabis are much more likely to have paranoia than people who don't use the drug.

The study also identifies psychological factors that can lead to feelings of paranoia in people exposed to the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, THC.

The team of researchers, led by Professor Daniel Freeman, PHD, of the University of Oxford, found that worrying, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and having a range of unsettling changes in perceptions most likely lead to the feelings of paranoia.

Fearing Harm

A paranoid person is someone who has an unfounded fear that others intend to harm them. Many people have some degree of paranoia. Those who are young, poor, in bad health, contemplating suicide, or using cannabis are more prone to have paranoid episodes.

The scientists set out to explore two things:

• Firstly, does cannabis cause paranoia?
• Secondly, how does cannabis affect the mind in order to cause paranoia?

Injecting THC

They tested 121 participants between the ages of 21 and 50. All of them had taken cannabis at least once before.

None of the participants had a history of mental illness, and all were screened to rule out relevant health conditions. But all of those taking part said they'd felt paranoid at least once in the previous month.

The volunteers were not invited to smoke joints. Instead, the scientists injected some of them with THC in order to ensure the results were as accurate as possible.

Two-thirds of the participants were given THC, and one-third received a placebo.

The amount of THC given was equal to a strong cannabis joint, and the effects lasted about 90 minutes.

Virtual Reality

Immediately after being injected, the volunteers were asked to walk into a hospital cafeteria and buy an item. From there they were taken to a lab, where they wore virtual reality headsets displaying a neutral social situation that didn't have any hostile characteristics.

These experiments were followed up with questionnaires and interviews.

After analyzing the results, the scientists found that THC increased the likelihood of paranoia happening.

Half the participants had paranoid thoughts with THC, compared to just 30% with placebo.

The paranoia declined as the drug left the bloodstream.

The drug also caused a range of other psychological effects: anxiety, worry, lowered mood, negative thoughts about the self, various changes in perception (such as sounds being louder than normal and colors brighter), thoughts echoing, altered perception of time, and poorer short-term memory.

Negative Feelings

The researchers believe the study reinforces the idea that paranoia stems from multiple causes.

They say it's likely that paranoia creeps in because THC increases negative feelings, and the perceptual changes lead to the rise in paranoia. There was no indication that the poorer short-term memory caused the increase in paranoia.

Freeman tells WebMD that young people may be more at risk. "There's certainly evidence that if you use cannabis -- particularly when you're young -- and you use it a lot, that this can put you at risk for later problems."

He says the results don't have any implications for policing, the criminal justice system, or politicians.

"I think what it highlights is that if you have greater confidence in yourself, you improve your self-esteem, and if you try not to worry or ruminate about potential threats in the world... then the effects of the THC should hopefully be less capable of inducing paranoia," he says.

The study was part-funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. It's published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin.

source : Study Sheds Light on Cannabis and Paranoia

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