Dairy: Diet expand or Boomerang?
Adequate calcium intake has long been suggested for stronger bones. But currently, calcium has been scoring headlines for its probable link with weight loss. While I hope this news will be a boon to dieters, I’m afraid it may even boomerang.
Why? It panders to the fantasy that eating certain foods will make you lose weight. Wrong. Eating fewer calories than you burn will make you lose weight. And while studies recommend that high-calcium diets, mainly high dairy diets, could optimize weight loss for those people earlier following a low-calorie regime, I’m preocupied that the last part of this story will be skipped over by those who wish to believe that ice cream, milkshakes and mozzarella are actually diet foods.
Dieters who disregard the fat and calorie content of their calcium sources may find their bodies searching more bovine than buff. So before you overdo it, be sure you comprehend calcium’s role in weight loss.
Here’s the skinny: A low-calcium diet increases blood levels of calcitriol, the active type of vitamin D. Calcitriol stimulates calcium influx into your fat cells, which, in turn, activates lipogenic or fat initiating gene phrase, thereby generating excess fat. In other words, if you’re calcium deficient, your body is more disposed to initiating fat cells than when you’re getting appropriate calcium.
Most of the recent analysis has focused on either dairy or supplementation, not fruits and veggies, as a source of calcium. likewise, studies have looked at only one parameter – weight loss – without taking into account what other risk circumstances might be in play.
For example, we got to be mindful of what else we can be getting from the calcium sources we pick, such as artery-clogging saturated fat and untapped sugars, and also the dioxins found out in full-fat foods, which pose a definite risk to women and girls.
The good news is that there are lots of healthy alternatives to get your suggested 1,000 milligrams to 1,200 milligrams of calcium per day. For example, one cup of cooked spinach, one cup of nonfat plain yogurt, one cup of cooked black-eyed peas, a kiwi and a handful of blackberries add up to 1,046 milligrams of calcium for only 450 calories – far fewer than if you attempted to meet the same requirement from full-fat dairy sources.
Keep in mind, too, that high-protein diets may cause loss of calcium, principal to osteoporosis and kidney stones. On the other hand, a diet wealthy in fruits and veggies tends to inhibit urinary excretion of calcium.
So, be clever about how you assimilate calcium-rich foods into your weight-loss regime. Read labels, stay away from saturated fat and added sugars, keep track of calories, and be sure your body retains the calcium you eat by including lots of healthy, low-calorie, high-fiber fruits and veggies. And do not fall for high-fat foods being marketed as diet wonders. Otherwise, the only thing you’ll lose is further field in the battle of the bulge.
