Strange News about Weight Control.

++ We (who study nutrition) have known for a long time that the basic issue in weight control is that you will gain weight if calories going in exceed calories going out (in exercise, for example). Maintaining weight (or keeping it off) depends of calories going in equaling calories going out. The puzzle is that so many people have trouble with these simple equations.

A lot of time and effort has been spent in motivating people to keep their calorie counts low and trying to understand why they don't stay motivated. Sometimes, it is due to a form of compensation. Studies actually showed that many people will have a bigger serving of dessert if they drink sugar-free soda or coffee the same day. This was blamed on the attitude, "I was good. I deserve a reward." Now, it looks like there is more to it than that. Science News recently ran a feature on the stomach's sweet tooth. The gist of it is that there are taste sensors in the digestive tract - actual taste sensors, not just glucose sensors. So, if you eat something sweet tasting, your body prepares to digest and absorb it. If the sweet item is non-caloric, your body is fooled and the response is not what a dieter wants! The mechanism for this has not been found. Worse, recent studies found that people who consume large amounts of diet beverages are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes. In one study, "large amounts" meant 24 oz/day.

Along with this, many people do not realize how many calories they drink. For example, a cup of black coffee has virtually no calories. Adding modest amounts of creamer and sugar adds maybe 50 calories, depending on your taste. Coffee house drinks (e g. latte) have a lot more than 50 calories/cup. Since you don't feel any less hungry an hour later, it is easy to ignore all those calories.

Another factor in weight control that is not intuitive has been in other reports in the recent past: sleep. It appears that chronic sleep-deprivation can lead to increased weight and increased belly fat. Even shorting yourself by an hour a night can eventually trigger this. Who knows what else they might find?!! The bottom line, once again, is listen to Grandma. She always said to take care of your self: go to bed on time, eat your vegetables and limit sweets, get some exercise. . .