Question: What is the best way to determine a serving size? For example, a 1/2 cup of beans (130 g) = 100 calories. Should I go for the 1/2 cup, or the 130 g? What is the most accurate? I ask because when I measure out 1/2 cup of beans, it doesn’t equal 130 g… So, I guess I don’t know which one actually equals the 100 calories. I’d appreciate knowing if I always go by weight, or by measurements in cups, etc. THANKS!

Answer: Hi Kris,

Servig sizes is something that has to be specified evry time they mention it. However, USDA defines it this way:

“A serving is a medium-size piece of fruit; 3/4 cup (6 fl. oz.) of 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice, 1/2 cup cooked or canned vegetables or fruit, 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables, 1/2 cup cooked dry peas or beans, or 1/4 cup dried fruit.”

Of course, grams and calories usually vary a lot because believe it or not, calorie count in foods is a very vague thing depending on too many factors to be unified.

Reading:

Servings
Calorie Counting
Aren’t All Calories Equal?

Tanya Zilberter, PhD

Question: During the “Phase One” part of the South Beach Diet, how many days will it be before I begin see results? This is my second time to try the South Beach Diet. The first time, I lost 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks. This time, I am already one week into Phase one, but I have not lost any weight yet. Will it begin to come off within the next week?

Answer: Yes, it may begin coming off. However, from my consulting experience, the South Beach’s “phase one” can be not enough if you once did it. It may happen because of so called metabolic adaptation. Lyle McDonald explains it in his book “The Ketogenic Diet”

In this case, you might want to think about more restrictive diet plan. Take a look at these diets listed in order of increasing strictness:

1. Glycemic Impact Diet

2. Atkins Diet

3. Banta Diet

Also, read about South Beach Diet plateau -> click here

Tanya Zilberter, PhD

New on Diet & Body:

Fat Burning Q&A
Q: What happens when you start to burn body fat?

Bedtime Eating
Night Time Eating And Fat Loss Revisited

Turbulence Training
Who else wants to change their body and fit in a swimsuit?

Virtual Gym
Dumbbell Bent Over Row exercise demo

Answer: Miracle Whip comparing with real Mayo has additional carbohydrates: high fructose corn syrup, starches, and table sugar. The bad thing about it is that it has no essential nutrients at all: no vitamins, no calcium but lots of bad saturated fats (just one tablespoonful fills 5 percent of the slot for your daily allowance for fat, good fats including!) and sodium.

Here are nutrition facts.

KRAFT MIRACLE WHIP, Light, 1 tablespoon, contains:
Calories 36.96
Calories from Fat 26.78

Percent Daily Value, in percents:

Total Fat 5 %
Saturated Fat 2 %
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 %
Cholesterol 1 %
Sodium 5 %
Potassium 0 %
Total Carbohydrate 1 %

Ingredients: WATER, SOYBEAN OIL, VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, EGG YOLKS, SALT, MUSTARD FLOUR, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, POTASSIUM SORBATE AS A PRESERVATIVE, SPICE, PAPRIKA, NATURAL FLAVOR, DRIED GARLIC.

Q: Should meal frequency/spacing be the same on different diets?

A: There’s no consensus about meal frequency that’d be best for weight loss. Some experts think the more frequent the better, some doubt. From my own knowledge and experience, it depends on the type of diet you are on. This theme is important enough to be worth of learning details so I suggest the following resources:

How You Can Eat 6 Meals a Day and Still Lose Weight

Meal Spacing

Skipping Breakfasts

When visiting the last link, take a look at the complete plan and knowledge base. You might want to give it a try, it’s free.

Tanya Zilberter, PhD

Q: Are Omega-3 supplements really as beneficial for my health as the manufacturers claim?

A: Fish oils are excellent sources of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). EPA and DHA in turn are important components of cell membranes and as such play a vital role in overall health. Studies have shown that Greenland Eskimos, who have a very high intake of fish oils, have a very low incidence of heart attacks, asthma, diabetes, psoriasis, and allergies — Nutrition Reviews, Vol. 54

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to fetal development and their deficiency pregnancy can lead to sensory deficits and lower intelligence — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 71 (suppl)

Research results indeed suggest that even a modest dietary intake of seafood (around 1-2 oily fish meals a week) may lower the risk of heart disease and mortality from coronary heart disease — Circulation, Vol. 111

Fish oils (and copper) have both been found useful in the treatment systemic lupus erythematosus, disease that can progress to life-threatening conditions in the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain) — Journal of Rheumatology, Vol. 31

There are at least a dozen studies that show a clear protective effect of fish or fish oil against breast, colon, and prostate cancer. Dr. Pepping (a consulting pharmacist at the Kaiser Permanente) recommends two servings of cold-water fish (e.g. salmon, mackerel or herring) per week, 2-4 grams of fish oil capsules per day or 15-30 ml of flaxseed oil per day as a preventive measure — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 73

Recent research has shown the development of atherosclerotic plagues can be reduced by taking fish oil prior to eating fatty meals — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 71

Read about omega-3 health benefits:

Nothing Fishy About Fish Oil (omega-3 fatty acids: health benefits and recommendations)
Fish for Your Health!
5 Smart Cancer Foods
Polyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega-3 family, including fish oil, help in the work of fat burning enzymes
Omega-3 fatty acids efficient for maintenance of remission in Crohn’s disease…

Q: My doctor told that after 10 hours without eating, my body will go into starvation mode and any food that is eaten after that period of time will be turned into fat. Does it contradict to the advice that I should not eat after 6 PM? This would make me fast for 10 hours so should I expect that my breakfast will go to my fat depot?

A: In human body, starvation mode, speaking biochemically, doesn’t occur sooner than 72 hours of a complete water fast. However, the doctor can be right though for a different reason. The matter is, when using carbohydrates for fuel, one is getting hungry every three to four hours or so. This happens because when carbs are available with foods, the body prefers to run on them rather than on by-products of fat metabolism, ketones.

Meanwhile, carb depots in the body are very small, only able to support body’s energy needs for a day and a half — and because of that, our hardwire is so arranged that we feel hungry and crave foods as soon as the depots just start being emptied. As soon as there’s the feeling of hunger, the body begins to sabotage any physical activity by sending us to the state of sluggishness so we move less and spend less calories. This indeed results in gaining weight — unless we push ourselves hard enough in gyms.

On the other hand, fat depots are huge and when there’s little or no carbs coming with foods and the body adapts to running on ketones, it stops worry about the depots and the well known state of decreased hunger occurs. By the way, when low carb dieters are relieved from the worried state, they invariable report the state of well being.

So, we can separate the starvation mode, which doesn’t happen sooner than after three days without eating, and the sense of hunger, which can sabotage our weight loss efforts and indirectly cause the same effect.

One more thing. Lately, an interesting research result’s been published. After meta-analysis of so called intermittent fasting (a meal a day diet) including observation data on people during the Ramadan daily fast, a conclusion about naturalness and health benefits of such way of eating has been made.

You might want to read more about these things:

About Ketosis

About Fat Burning Index

Calorie and Low Carb

Tanya Zilberter, PhD