Protein, amino acids aid in muscle development

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Dr. Brian Quebbemann

Exercise trainers often recommend amino acid supplements to their clients stating that they increase their energy, increase stamina, and build muscle mass or burn calories.

The health benefits of salmon include proper cardio vascular health, muscle and tissue development, eye care, and effective body metabolism.

The truth is that you can get more amino acids (an important component of dietary protein) if you simply spend your money on protein rich foods like fish, meat and dairy products. In theory, if you want to gain 1 pound of muscle per week, you will need 14 extra grams of protein per day, the amount of protein contained in 2 ounces of red meat.

The fact is, there is no scientific evidence that individual amino acids have any bodybuilding effect. When it comes to developing well-toned muscles, exercise, and natural whole-food nutrition is all that’s required. The N.E.W. Program, Inc. emphasizes this healthy balance for our clients.

The N.E.W. Program teaches clients how to obtain a more active lifestyle by practicing a few simple lifestyle pattern guidelines. These patterns are discussed in our unique Lifestyle Management Program. The ongoing workshops are held each Tuesday at our Newport Beach location. Join us for a these insightful and power-packed workshops and learn how to implement the simple patterns you need to control your weight forever.

Eat more, weigh less: Add planned snacks to routine

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Dr. Brian Quebbemann

Having healthy snacks in between meals keeps metabolism high and appetite low. It is important to never skip a meal or go on a starvation diet. Eat frequently to prevent hunger and to keep your energy levels consistent which in turn will increase and speed up your metabolism.

The following are some suggestions for healthy snacks/meals:

Roll asparagus spear in deli meat
Vegetable and cheese omelet using a reasonable amount of cheese and one whole egg with one additional egg white
Cottage cheese with added fruit (breakfast) or added salsa or green peas (lunch)
Roll a pickle in a slice of deli meat
Deviled eggs with pickles
Eat the middle out of a taco or burrito
Grated cheese on refried beans with vegetables and salsa
Mini chef salad with meat and cheese
Pickled mushrooms or pearl onions with a dash of soy sauce
Frozen grapes or other berries
Shrimp in cocktail sauce
Celery with low-fat peanut butter
Slices of tomato with slices of cheese
Cucumber with tomato
Cucumber with shrimp and low-fat mayo
Hard boiled egg dices with a reasonable amount of melted grated cheese
Freeze Crystal Lite and blend for slush
Lettuce wrapped around deli meat, cheese and veggies
String less snap peas, sugar peas or china peas
Light yogurt
Beef jerky or turkey jerky
Slices of deli meat with chunks of cheese eaten plain
Chili
Slices of fresh turkey or chicken, divided in snack-size portions, refrigerated to be eaten later

If you have questions about your nutritional needs, the clinicians of The N.E.W. Program can help you design a dietary regimen that works best for you and gets you started on your way to developing your own eating patterns that will leave you with eating satisfaction and permanent weight control.

Consider causes when tackling weight-loss plateaus

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Administrator

Early after surgery, you may loose inches and pounds quite rapidly. Sooner or later, however, your rate of weight loss will slow down, or seem to stop. This is almost never a cause of concern, just a normal physical process. Your body has had a major change in its function. There is no reason to expect it to adjust to this change immediately!

Anyone who has attended support groups will tell you that plateaus are inevitable and should be taken in stride. Plateaus are not a sign that all your weight loss has stopped or that you will now begin to gain weight.

If a plateau continues more than a few weeks, it might be wise to look at the following:

What are you eating? Check your nutritional program. Are you following your plan carefully? Have you maintained your caloric intake at a weight loss level? Are you careful to eat a nutritionally balanced diet?
How much are you moving? Check your exercise program and activity level. Are you being consistent with your increased activity and the exercise you are doing? If you have decreased your exercise, your body may be slowing its fat-burning function.
How much is new muscle? Have you added muscle-building exercises to your program? You may have built enough heavier muscle to offset some of your loss of the lighter fat.
Do you need to change your intake/output balance? You may temporarily need to decrease your caloric intake and/or increase your exercise output to start losing again. Check with your physician or dietitian for recommendations about using this method to halt your plateau.

Most people, even competitive athletes, think about factors affecting their weight on a regular basis. This is normal and OK.

If you’ve reached your goal weight, these considerations will then keep you on the plateau. If you are still on the weight loss phase of your program, and have hit a plateau, it may be wise to consult with your physician or support team members about how to implement some of these strategies. Most of the time you will be surprised at how easy it is to overcome your plateau.

Whole foods, lean proteins give maximum benefits

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Dr. Brian Quebbemann

Most diet and nutrition plans are full of foods to avoid or eliminate. What’s good to eat, then?

High-protein foods are the cornerstone of any healthy eating strategy. Eggs, for example, contain one of the most complete and digestible proteins available. The biological value of egg whites is so high that egg protein is the reference protein against which all other forms of protein are measured. Eggs are also a source of B vitamins, including B12. Fish is also a great source of protein and offers many other benefits: wild salmon is rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids; tuna provides B12 and thiamine, and many other types of fish are rich in nutrition.

Broiled, baked, seared, poached, or steamed, fish should not be overcooked to retain most of the vitamins. Fried fish is usually high in grease that makes you feel stuffed; for healthy weight people the feeling of being stuffed is uncomfortable and this is a key point to be aware of if you wish to control your weight.

Another fact to remember for healthy eating is that whole protein foods have the advantage of being digested slowly, resulting in a feeling of fullness and satisfaction that lasts for hours. Whole protein, natural foods are also packed with flavor.

We encourage clients of The N.E.W. Program to make these foods a substantial part of their N.E.W. nutrition strategy, not as weight loss tools, but as great tasting sources of nutrition with maximum health benefits that make them satisfied and happy after a meal.

Water a crucial element in healthy lifestyle

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Administrator

Water is such a simple and basic part of life that we might take for granted just how important it is to our health and wellness. Fact is, to get healthy and stay healthy, maintaining proper hydration is crucial.

To understand how important water is to wellness and weight loss, it helps to understand the building blocks of the human body. The body is composed of 60 percent fluids of your total body weight and 70 percent of your muscles. The fluids are comprised of water and other bodily fluids, such as lymph and synovial fluids. During the course of our daily activities, the body constantly loses fluids in perspiration and through urinating. How much of these fluids are lost will depend on our activities and the temperatures that are prevailing at the time.

If you are in weight-loss journey, it is important to note that during the summer months especially, we tend to be more active in the heat with sports, gardening and vacationing. Increased activity plus the higher temperatures will cause us to sweat more. Sweat will evaporate on the skin helping your body to cool down. This happens during the cooler months, but during the summer months that the body is at greater risk for it to become dehydrated.

The N.E.W. Program’s weekly workshop series continues Tuesday when Karla Campbell, RD, presents “Hydration: How Much is Enough?” The workshop will be presented at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 1 at our Newport Beach location.

Beyond Nutrition Labeling

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Administrator

After weight loss surgery, you should take an active interest in the nutrient content of everything you eat. Because you can’t eat much, everything you eat should be packed with nutrients. While most of you are aware that you need to take vitamin and mineral supplements for the rest of your life, you may not be accustomed to extracting the maximum amount of useful information from a food label. Label information can help you make good food choices and have a healthier body postoperatively. If you follow these five simple steps, nutrition labels can be easy to use and understand.

1. Serving Size:
Look at serving size, including how many servings there are in the food package, and compare it to how much you can actually eat. After restrictive operations, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RNY-GBP) or adjustable gastric banding (Lap-Band®), serving size tends to be much smaller than the typical size listed on the label. Naturally, the serving size actually consumed influences all the nutrient amounts listed on the top part of the label. Try to estimate what percentage of the serving you ate, i.e., a half, a quarter, etc.

2. Calories and Calories from Fat:
Calories do count – although you shouldn’t have to “count calories” after surgery. While you don’t need to consume a specific number of calories per day, you should be aware of the approximate relative calorie content of most foods. During the first few months after bariatric surgery, patients typically take in 700-1000 calories per day. As you would expect, calorie-dense items are contraindicated after surgery. Be aware of how many calories in a serving come from fat. Fat provides 9 calories per gram while protein and carbohydrates supply 4 calories per gram. If you are getting a high percentage of your calories from fat, you probably aren’t getting enough protein in your diet.

3. Limit These Nutrients:
The nutrients that are most important for your health are listed on the label in two main groups. The nutrients listed first, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium should be limited. Eating too much fat or too much sodium may increase your risk of heart disease, some cancers, or high blood pressure. High fat intake is usually linked to weight gain and obesity. Too many carbohydrates in the form of sugar can add unnecessary calories to food and cause dumping in RNY-GBP patients. Common names of sugars in food include; dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, brown sugar, molasses, honey, and dextrin. Ingredient names ending in “-ose” are sugars and those ending in “-ol” are sugar alcohols – both can cause dumping.

4. Get Enough of These Nutrients:
After surgery, you should make a concerted effort to increase calcium, iron, and vitamin C in your diet. Calcium and iron absorption are decreased after RNY-GBP. Intake of good sources of iron such as chicken, pork, and beef is also decreased after both RNY-GBP and Lap-Band® surgery. Vitamin C can facilitate iron absorption. Many patients also don’t get enough dietary fiber. Dietary fiber can contribute to the feeling of fullness and satiety. If you eat only soft, mushy items after surgery, you may experience frequent hunger between meals as well as chronic constipation. Postoperatively, you are encouraged to gradually increase the fiber content of your diet.

5. Percent Daily Value (%DV):
This portion of the label tells you whether the nutrients (fat, sodium, fiber, etc) in a serving of food contribute a lot or a little to your daily diet. Your “diet” is all the different foods you eat in a day. Percent Daily Values are based on recommendations for a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values will be much lower as you should not be consuming 2,000 calories per day after weight loss surgery. If you are eating 1,000 calories per day, your daily values for total fat, saturated fat, and total carbohydrate would be half of that needed for a person eating 2,000 calories per day.

Remember, you can’t get everything you need nutritionally from your vitamin and mineral supplements — no matter how great they are. You must use food to supply adequate protein, fat, carbohydrate and fiber. In addition, vitamins and minerals are usually better absorbed when provided by food rather than a pill. Continue to take vitamin and mineral supplements but use food labels to help you achieve your weight goal and improve your health.

Heart Failure Risk Increasing

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Dr. Brian Quebbemann

Four Pounds Can Make a Difference

The numbers are startling.

Nearly four out of 10 Americans will be obese within five years if people keep packing on pounds at the current rate.

Currently, about 31%, or about 59 million people, are obese, which is defined as roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight. Almost 65% are either obese or overweight, according to government statistics.

The average American has gained eight pounds in the past 10 years, in spite of research proving that people could live longer and healthier at an ideal body weight. And, half this “average American” weight gain, or a mere four pounds, could be enough to significantly increase the risk of heart failure.

Cardiologists will be first to acknowledge that obesity increases the risk of death from heart disease. Doctors have long known that obesity contributes to heart failure — specifically an enlargement and thickening of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber. But we were never sure how much of the added risk stems from obesity, or its impact on blood pressure and other risk factors.

Now, a new study shows that being slightly overweight — as little as a few pounds over — can increase that risk. It’s the first major study to probe the progressive relationship between weight gain and heart failure.

In the New England Journal of Medicine1, a study involving nearly 6,000 people followed for over 14 years by the Boston University School of Medicine, demonstrated that being even moderately overweight is a causative factor of congestive heart failure in women. In other words, many cases of heart failure can be attributed to obesity alone.

People in this study were not extremely obese. Even a little excess weight, the study found, can raise the risk of congestive heart failure.

In fact, “after adjustment for established risk factors, the risk of heart failure is increased by 5% for men and 7% for women for each increase of 1 in Body Mass Index (BMI),” says the journal report.

Because patients who qualify for bariatric surgery have a BMI that is at least 15 points above a “healthy weight,” their risk for heart failure is increased by at least 100%.

We are very good at treating all consequences of obesity — high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes. But, when it comes to treating obesity itself, we often throw up our hands. That just doesn’t make sense.

Minimally invasive weight-loss surgery has proven to be successful with thousands of obese patients. At The N.E.W Program, when we get patient’s weight down, we discover their diabetes improves, their cholesterol is lower, their blood pressure looks better.

Heart failure is yet another bad medical condition to have. And, for people with severe obesity or worse, we know that bariatric surgery is certainly a successful method to eliminate this grim prognosis.

Article by Dr. B. Quebbemann.

(Brian Quebbemann, MD, FACS is the Surgical Director of The N.E.W. Program, Inc.)

Five Principles of Healthy Eating

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Administrator

1. Eat Chewable Food—Not “Mush”
Chewing food provides more satisfaction when eating. Also, adequate chewing is important to avoid discomfort after surgery. Eating soft mushy foods that don’t require chewing will decrease your satisfaction after a meal, result in less satiety and limit your post-surgical success. (Mac and Cheese is high-calorie mush)

2. Eat 2-3 meals per day and 2-3 snacks per day. (eat 5-6 times/day)
Eating regularly during the day will maintain a higher metabolism. Skipping meals will also result in fluctuations of your blood sugar and energy level and may cause cravings and headaches. Always eat breakfast.

3. At least three of the meals should be high protein meals.
Remember, “protein first.” Protein causes more satiety than carbohydrates. When eating smaller portions, following a pattern of starting with protein-based foods (meat, fish, eggs, etc…) will also ensure better nutrition.

4. Drink at least 2 quarts of calorie-free beverage per day, and drink 1 glass (8oz) of water, 30 minutes prior to regular meals. Do not drink during meals.
Dehydration will often be mistaken as hunger, resulting in a need to eat more. Drinking a thirst-quenching liquid prior to meals will also eliminate the feeling of a need to drink during the meal. Drinking during a meal will “wash” food through the pouch and leave you hungry.

5. Eat good tasting, flavorful food; chew well and eat slowly.
This is very important. There is no rule that patients cannot eat spicy, hot or tangy foods after surgery. You will be eating slowly and chewing for a longer time, and therefore you need to make sure that you have good tasting food that you enjoy. This is an important part of feeling satisfied after a meal. Eat well.

Check out The N.E.W. Program for more information on Healthy Eating!

Grilled Pork Chops with Two-Melon Salsa

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Administrator

Besides being just as high in protein as poultry and fish, pork is one of the highest natural sources of most of the B vitamins. This makes lean pork a great part of your weight loss plan. Watermelon is high in vitamin C and the antioxidant lycopene, which is best known for its role in preventing prostate cancer. Honeydew is a perfect food for anyone on an exercise plan because it is very high in water and potassium, which together help you stay hydrated and prevent muscle cramps. And despite its sweet flavor, it is very low in calories, so it is a nice way to satisfy a sweet tooth while continuing to lose weight.

Total: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and 1/2 cup salsa)

Ingredients

Salsa:

1 cup chopped seedless watermelon
1 cup chopped honeydew melon
3 tablespoons finely chopped sweet onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeño pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

Pork chops:

2 teaspoons canola oil
1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut pork chops, trimmed
Cooking spray

Preparation

1. To prepare salsa, combine the first 7 ingredients; set aside.

2. To prepare pork chops, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Combine oil and next 4 ingredients (through black pepper) in a small bowl. Rub oil mixture over both sides of pork chops. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with salsa.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 256
Fat: 13.5g (sat 4.3g,mono 6.4g,poly 1.6g)
Protein: 25g
Carbohydrate: 8.7g
Fiber: 0.9g
Cholesterol: 70mg
Iron: 0.9mg
Sodium: 458mg
Calcium: 37mg

Recipe courtesy of www.myrecipes.com.

Tofu & Broccoli Stir-Fry

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Administrator

This is a tasty vegetarian meal that even meat-eaters will love. Tofu is a versatile protein that takes on the flavors of the foods it’s cooked with. Like all soy foods, tofu is very heart-healthy, in part because it is often used as a replacement for meats that may be high in saturated fat or cholesterol. Broccoli is a member of the cruciferous family of vegetables, which are known for their role in cancer prevention. It is also very high in insoluble fiber, which helps to keep the colon healthy. The protein and fiber make this dish very filling on its own, but you may also choose to add a whole grain, such as quinoa or brown rice.

4 servings, 1 1/4 cups each

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes