Fast Food is Addictive!

Scientists have discovered that high doses of fat and sugar in fast and processed foods can be as addictive as nicotine — and even hard drugs. more >>

Microwave cooking

A recent study has shown that cooking your greens in the microwave is the worst way to cook them (if you want to retain the nutrients that is!)

Microwaving destroys over 90% of the good antioxidants, compared with only 10% for steaming. (Boiling is somewhere in the middle.)

Fast Food is Addictive!

Scientists have discovered that high doses of fat and sugar in fast and processed foods can be as addictive as nicotine — and even hard drugs. more >>

Atkins Diet - does it really work?

There is a lot of news at the moment about the Atkins Diet and how it has been proven to work better than every other diet.

There is another side that hasn't been explored in these studies, Atkins messes up your body chemistry - for good.

Giving your body such an unbalanced diet, mainly protein and fat and hardly any carbohydrates is seriously unsettling your inner biochemical systems. There is some concern about it resulting in kidney problems and the issues of such a high fat diet on heart disease, but there are other issues that are not so commonly known:

• Atkins leads to depression in many people - in order to feel happy and well, you need serotonin (a hormone in your brain). Serotonin is made from tryptophan with the help of insulin, a hormone in your blood. The Atkins diet results in a very low insulin level, not enough to help tryptophan into the brain to make the serotonin - and the user gets depressed.
• The second consequence is that your insulin system is permanently damaged and so therefore is the carbohydrate system in the body. This means that if the dieter goes back to eating carbohydrates again, they will put on weight, double quick.
• Eating a high protein diet has also been linked with kidney problems. (BBC article).

Atkins goes against all nutritional advice to eat a sensible, balanced diet. A large amount of fruit and vegetables, a good portion of protein and a small portion of wholemeal carbohydrates and low saturated fat. This, combined with a good exercise regime is the way to lose weight.

• It's official, Atkins is bad for you >> Article from the Evening Standard, August 2003
• Read more about the Atkins Diet in the news from the BBC
(external link)
• Read what Kathleen DesMaions says about Atkins
• Read some books about diets that really do work!