Is Peanut Butter unhealthy?

Calorie Count always ranks Peanut Butter as either a C or D when I go to log it, and generally there are no negative points for it. There are a couple pros, but no cons, according to the site, yet it's ranked poorly, probably due to its higher calorie count, right? I'm just trying to figure out why else it's ranked to be nutritionally not so good for you. I've heard great things about peanut butter's health benefits in the past, so I'm just a bit confused. Also, I have one serving of peanut butter on toast for breakfast nearly daily and when I look at my daily analysis, for breakfast the 16g of healthy fat I'm consuming from the PB shows up in red, meaning I'm over-consuming bad nutrients, according to the key. It's one serving- how is eating one serving of something over-consuming it and unhealthy? If you eat the peanut butter without hydrogenated oils and everything, you're getting healthy fats that your body needs, plus some protein. Is it really bad to have two tablespoons- one serving- of peanut butter at a time? Or is CC highlighting that in red unnecessarily? Thanks!

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how to break unhealthy patterns

Hey everyone.

I'm a 21 years old college student and it seems that I've gotten myself stuck in a specific pattern. I've noticed that what usually ends up happening with me is that when I have a lot of time, particularly over the summer break, I exercise consistently and eat pretty well and am able to stay at a stable, healthy weight. For example, last summer I was 125 pounds (btw-I am 5'5).

I visited the doctor recently only to learn that I've gained 10 lbs and it's really upsetting me, especially because I didn't realize I'd let myself get to this point. I know it's easily reversible, but I'd really like to get back to what I was in the quickest amount of time and in the healthiest possible way as I am going on vacation in a month.

If I exercise every single day and strictly monitor my calories, do you think it could be healthily done in a month? Also, how do you suggest I motivate myself to stay on top of my weight, even when I'm busy with work and school?

Thanks!

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I’m in my 50s — could my unhealthy eating patterns be an eating disorder?

Posted May 27, 2013, 2:00 am

I’m a woman in my 50s. Ever since my divorce last year, I’ve developed an unhealthy pattern of eating and purging. A friend suggested I might have an eating disorder. Could she be right?

I understand why you ask the question, as most people think of eating disorders as a teenager’s disease. But eating disorders also affect middle-aged and older women, and even some men.

Experts disagree about what causes eating disorders.  There probably is no single, simple answer. Genes seem to play a role. Identical twins are more likely to have eating disorders than non-identical twins, for example.

Eating disorders appear to be more common in people who have dieted frequently in the past, and in people who needed to be lean at one point in their lives — because they were competing in certain sports, for example, or dancing.

People with eating disorders appear to be more likely to have psychiatric disorders, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder and substance abuse. I’m not a psychiatrist, but I’ve always been struck by the parallels between obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders. Both involve irrational behaviors that people cannot control. Eating disorders may be a way of responding to stressful events in life.

There are many reasons why eating disorders may develop or reappear during middle age. With age, for example, you are increasingly likely to lose people you care about. Restricting food or purging can be a way to deal with distressing feelings. Divorce is another common reason. In addition to grief and loss, the breakup of a marriage can spur a person to view their body unfavorably.

The type of disordered eating you’ve described sounds like bulimia nervosa. People with bulimia go through cycles of binge eating followed by purging. While on a binge, a person with bulimia may eat an entire cake rather than one or two slices, or a gallon of ice cream rather than a bowl. This is followed by a purge: making oneself vomit or using laxatives or diuretics.

Talk to your doctor about your eating patterns. If you do have bulimia, treatment can help you achieve a healthy weight and eating pattern, eliminate binge eating and purging, and address any stressful issues in your life:

Psychotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment for eating disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) challenges unrealistic thoughts about food and appearance. It can help you develop more productive thought patterns. Interpersonal and psychodynamic therapy can help you gain insight into issues that may underlie your disordered eating.Through nutritional rehabilitation, a dietitian or nutritional counselor can help you learn (or relearn) the components of a healthy diet. He or she can help motivate you to make the needed changes.Fluoxetine (Prozac) is the only medication approved to treat an eating disorder. At high doses, it reduces binge eating and vomiting, particularly in combination with psychotherapy. Other antidepressants and the seizure medication topiramate (Topamax) may also be prescribed for bulimia.

With the help of these treatments, you can overcome your eating disorder.

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Are calcium supplements unhealthy for men?

Posted May 16, 2013, 2:00 am

I’m a man in my 60s. I’ve been taking a calcium supplement to protect my bones, but I recently read that men shouldn’t take calcium supplements. Why not?

I wish I could give you a clear answer. Several recent studies have raised a question about whether regular use of calcium supplements might be bad for the heart. The bottom line: It’s too early to know if this risk is real.

There’s no doubt that we need calcium. It helps muscles to contract, blood to clot and nerves to communicate. And it plays an important role in building strong teeth and bones. As a result, many people take calcium supplements for bone health.

One new study followed the health of nearly 400,000 men and women. The study was published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine. At the study’s start, the participants reported how much supplemental calcium they took. From diet surveys, the researchers estimated how much calcium the study participants were getting from food.

During 12 years of follow-up, men who took more than 1,000 milligrams (mg) of supplemental calcium per day were 20 percent more likely to succumb to heart disease than those who didn’t take calcium supplements. But there was no connection between calcium supplements and heart disease in women, and there was no connection with calcium from food.

Another recent study that followed more than 61,000 women in Sweden was published in the medical journal BMJ. Among women who took more than 1,400 milligrams per day of calcium supplements, the risk of premature death was more than doubled — particularly death from heart disease.

Both of these studies, and others that have pointed in a similar direction, involve large numbers of people and were carefully conducted. Yet they are observational studies, and you can’t make judgments about cause and effect from such studies. They clearly showed that men and women who took relatively high doses of calcium supplements had higher risks. But that doesn’t prove that the calcium supplements were the cause of higher rates of heart problems and death.

Surely, these studies don’t mean that you should forsake all calcium. Everyone needs calcium to keep bones strong, taken in conjunction with the bone-building vitamin, vitamin D. Losing calcium weakens bones and leaves them more prone to breaking. (I’ve put a table listing the daily recommended intakes of calcium and vitamin D below.)

With the safety of calcium supplements in question, try to get as much calcium as possible from food. Good calcium sources include:

Low-fat milk and cheese;Calcium-fortified orange juice or soy milk;Breakfast cereals (which are also fortified);Leafy greens, particularly, kale, turnip greens and Swiss chard. (Go easy on spinach. It is high in iron, which tends to block calcium absorption.)Sardines and other canned fish with bones included.

I’m sure there will be more research studies on this important question. I’ll keep you posted.

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