Slimming to boost your immune system

Your immune system is one of the most important parts of your body, so you should look after it!

Your immune system is the way that your body protects itself against invasion by disease. It is your immune system that stops you disintegrating every time a harmful bacteria comes your way. It’s important that we look after our immune system and don’t damage it. Any damage could result in us becoming prone to potentially harmful, if not fatal conditions.

We only really notice the effects of our immune system when it’s not working; otherwise, we take it for granted. It is your immune system that heals cuts and scratches and is responsible for most of the amazing recoveries we can make. When you think that your body is assaulted by millions of bacteria, viruses and potentially harmful poisons every day, you realise that it’s really important that you pay attention to the things that help to keep it running smoothly

Research suggests that the average diet is missing some of the key nutrients that the immune system needs to function properly. That means that our food choices could come back to haunt us one day. It is also thought that yo-yo dieting, where you lose weight and then put it back on, and then lose it another way, can contribute to the weakening of your immune system.

The best way to protect your immune system from harm is to change your eating habits so that you enjoy a healthy, balanced range of foods. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables that are rich in vitamins and minerals will help to boost your immune system, counteracting the negative effects of the toxins and bacteria that you come into contact with every day. Eliminating the toxins that you put into your own system is also important, as caffeine, alcohol, sugars, salt and fat can all have a detrimental effect on your immune system.

At SureSlim we can provide you with a personal eating plan that will not only help you to reach your slimming target, but will provide you with the nutrients you need to keep your body healthy and make your immune system work as well as it can. If you think you have damaged your immune system by eating and drinking the wrong things, we can help you to fix it.

To find out more, ask for your free SureSlim Weight Loss information pack at www.Sureslimuk.com/.

DIET Talk - YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT – Why?

Appetite

Appetite is the desire to eat food. The appetite centre is situated in the brain and regulates the amount of energy intake (from food and drink)) needed to keep the bodies metabolism working normally. When the metabolism is increased e.g. through exercise more food is needed and vice versa. Hunger is the physical sensation experienced when blood sugar levels start to fall because the liver stores are being depleted. The two terms are interrelated.

Steady state

In the steady state, that is, in somebody who is neither losing nor putting on weight, the intake of energy through food/drink will balance the utilisation of energy by the body. Thus a fat and a thin person, leading similar life styles will have similar needs for food to keep to a steady state and one will remain fat and the other thin. On the other hand, a physically more active person of the same weight as a sedentary person will need a higher intake of calories in order to maintain the weight in the steady state.

Control of appetite

Appetite is controlled through the action of many hormones and other substances mostly in the brain, nerves and gut. Their cooperation ensures that we eat when we need to. When one or more of those mechanisms fail, one overeats or loses appetite and therefore gains or loses inappropriate amounts of weight. Unplanned or unexplained weight loss is usually due to a medical disorder. Obesity however, is much more commonly due to habitual overeating of high calories foods and a sedentary file.
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Why do we put on weight?

Every molecule of energy containing foods not needed, is stored. Thus every molecule of sugar, in whatever form it is ingested, will be stored as fat if taken in excess of what is needed. It is said that a daily intake of even a half a biscuit in excess of what the body needs as energy will result in an extra stone in weight within 6 months.

How to lose weight healthily?

If one eats less than is needed for providing appropriate amounts of energy for maintaining the body metabolism, once the glucose stores in the liver (glycogen) are used up (this occurs within a few hours of starvation) the body will start to utilise it’s own fat for energy. Thus, in order to lose weight, the intake of energy must be less than the expenditure of energy, the balance being made up from one’s own fat. Further, if the reduced calories intake is combined with increased calories expenditure as with exercise, the fat utilisation will be speeded up. However, there are dangers in this if the weight loss is too sudden or drastic because high fat utilisation also leads to the production of certain acids (ketones) which are broken down slowly and which can, if they accumulate too much in the body cause medical problems including heart failure.

The healthiest and safest way to lose weight is to change one’s dietary habits and eat a consistently moderately less calorific diet, in smaller quantities as well as combining it with foods higher in fibre, vitamins, minerals and proteins and doing more exercise. This is the hall mark of ‘healthy living’. For the effects on weight reduction to have a lasting effect, this healthier living has to become the new habit, replacing the old. For many people this is very hard and they go from one crash diet to the next one with rebounds in weight when they stop. Further, as metabolism also slows down with crash diets, in time, the diets become less effective.

Dr Yvette Lolin, Clinical Advisor
FRCPAth, PhD
Consultant in Metabolic Medicine and Chemical Pathology

Weight Loss Foods - Beans and pulses are excellent sources of nutrition.

There is a wide range of beans and pulses - sometimes known as legumes - that can be beneficial in improving your health and promoting your weight loss. These foods contain virtually no fat, but are great sources of protein, which is why they are popular with vegetarians who are replacing the proteins that they’re not getting from meat.

Beans have many other positive effects. They are believed to reduce cholesterol and prevent the production of toxins, helping to lower the risk of conditions such as heart disease and cancer. They are also categorised as good carbohydrates, which means that they release energy to the body slowly, helping your diet to control your metabolism and keep your body working at a regular level.

There are many different types of beans and pulses, which can be used in everyday cooking.

Examples are..

Kidney Beans

Available from supermarkets in both canned and dried form, kidney beans are one of the most frequently bought in our shops. They are incredibly rich in fibre and carry high levels of folate and magnesium, and help to revitalise your iron supply. The kidney beans we are used to are dark red in colour; white kidney beans are known as pinto beans.
Lentils

Lentils are popular for adding to soups and casseroles because they absorb liquid quickly. Again, they are full of nutrients, including fibre, protein and folate, and they help to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease. Like kidney beans, lentils are good foods for promoting iron production in your body.

Soybeans
It’s likely that you’ve never considered buying soybeans, yet they have a good nutty flavour and can be used in a variety of recipes. A staple food in China, it has been used mainly by vegetarians to provide them with the levels of protein, vitamins and minerals they need to stay healthy. A recent study has suggested that some of the compounds found in soy beans encourage us to produce smaller fat cells, resulting in leaner figures.

People are often afraid of including beans and pulses in their slimming programmes, because they are unsure how to keep, prepare and cook them. At SureSlim, we have a number of recipes including beans so that you can reap the health benefits whilst also reducing your weight.

SureSlim provide diet plans that suit your meatbolism and help you lose weight fast!

DRUGS AND WEIGHT LOSS

There is no magic bullet, pill or potion for weight loss though slimming potions of some sort or another have been around for a very long time. The earliest records are nearly 2000 years old and describe mixtures of purgatives and laxatives. Similar types of preparation remained the mainstay of weight reduction until the beginning of the last century when hormones such as thyroxin (to fasten metabolism), followed by amphetamines (to suppress appetite) and their derivatives were introduced. Although their dangers were recognized early on, for several decades they continued to be used and amphetamines were only banned as diet pills in 1979.

Today, slimming pills are divided into those which suppress appetite i.e. trick the body into thinking it is full or reduce absorption of certain nutrients. Some also speed up metabolism.

Drugs which suppress appetite act on the brain or block certain receptors or hormones, decreasing the need for food. Some also delay gastric emptying, thus prolonging the feeling of fullness. They are serious drugs. Some similar to amphetamines can have stimulant effects and are potentially very dangerous. Any sort of diet pill should only be prescribed by and supervised by health care professionals experienced in their use. They should only be used on a temporary basis after all other life style measures have been explored and according to the defined guidelines and recommendations. Only Sibutramine (Brand names Meridia or Reductil) is recommended for use by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). Some, such as Rimonabant (brand name Acomplia), are either not recommended or have been withdrawn because the benefits do not outweigh the side effects.


An example of a ‘drug’ which tricks the body into thinking it is full is Appesat (known as the Seaweed diet pill). There are a number of other preparations on the market working on a similar basis. Appesat, made from sea weed expands in the stomach thus reducing the volume available for food. This means that one will feel full on less food. However, the effect will last only as long as one continues taking the pill with every meal, it does not prevent snacking or comfort eating and works only as long as the pill is taken and if efforts have been made to also lose weight naturally. Further, it does not solve the long term problem of habitually overeating and or of eating ‘wrong’ foods. It is also expensive.

An example of a drug that reduces absorption of certain foods is Orlistat, available on prescription (or Alli, its equivalent at a smaller dose and available to the general public). Orlistat reduces the absorption of fats. This means that on a ‘normal’ diet, most of the calories that are taken in will be from carbohydrates. However, since most of the dietary calorie intake is from carbohydrates in any case, Orlistat works only if there is also dietary carbohydrate restriction. According to NICE, Orlistat should be prescribed only in conjunction with lifestyle changes (dieting and exercise) and continued for more than 3 months only if there has been a documented 5% decrease in body weight. With Alli, since it is weaker, that is even more important. Further, Orlistat and Alli have also side effects ranging from the inconvenience of having fatty stools and fatty diarrhoea to malabsorption of fat soluble vitamins. The latter can in the long term lead to osteoporosis, undue bleeding and may other problems. Orlistat and Alli and also very expensive. Also, as with all other diet pills, unless one changes ones dieting habits during the treatment and continues to so do thereafter, the weight will simply come back

In summary, we are what we eat and what we do. If the calorie intake matches the output, we neither lose nor gain weight. If the intake is higher we will put on weight. Exercise will increase the calories output, thus combining a sensible, long term dietary regime with exercise will help in both losing weight and then maintaining it. Remember, there is no magic bullet, pill or potion to counteract excessive eating, eating calorific food, comfort food, snacking and a sedentary life style. Any gains through drugs that suppress appetite, increase metabolism, ‘trick’ the body or reduce absorption are an expensive and potentially dangerous short term option which should be reserved only for those where there is no other option and where it is medically justified.

Dr Yvette Lolin, Clinical Advisor

FRCPAth, PhD

Consultant in Metabolic Medicine and Chemical Pathology

Vitamin D's importance in a Healthy Diet

Vitamin D deficiency is being increasingly recognised and may be reaching epidemic proportions in otherwise apparently healthy populations.

What is it and what does it do

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin essential for normal calcium metabolism and normal bone production and maintenance. It promotes calcium absorption from the gut, normal blood calcium levels and normal mineralisation of bone. Bone is not static but is constantly being remodelled and for this adequate supplies of calcium are needed. Vitamin deficiency is associated with reduced blood levels of calcium (and through various mechanisms, phosphate) leading to tiredness, muscle and bone pains and aches, muscle twitching and weakness. The low calcium levels eventually lead to malformed, soft and brittle bones and bone cysts, that is, rickets in children and osteoporosis and osteomalacia in adults. Vitamin D is also involved in the maintenance of the normal immune system and chronic deficiency is thought to increase predisposition to insulin dependent diabetes, multiple sclerosis and other disorders where the body immunity becomes abnormal. There are also suggestions that vitamin D deficiency may predispose to cancer, particularly cancer of the bowel and breast and that it may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. It is thus a very important vitamin.

What are the sources

The term Vitamin D includes a number of compounds which have the same original structure but which are progressively changed from the least to the most active form. It is produced by all plants and animals but mostly in small amounts and with the help of ultraviolet light .. Thus, there is no single sufficient source although in parts of the world with lots of sunshine, humans can synthesise the majority of their required Vit D.

Vitamin D synthesis

The synthesis of Vitamin D is complicated. In animals and humans, a precursor, 7-dehydrocholesterol, is produced in the skin from cholesterol. Through the action of ultraviolet light this in turn becomes previtamin D3, which is converted to vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Plants synthesize ergosterol, which is converted to vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol), also by ultraviolet light. Thus, if there is insufficient sunlight, our Vitamin D must come from the diet. However, plant vitamin (Vitamin D2) may be less active than the animal one (D3). D2 and D3 are biologically inactive and must be metabolized further, first in the liver to 25 hydroxy vitamin D (25, OH Vit D) and, finally, to the most active form in the kidney, 1, 25 dihydroxy vitamin D (1,25 Vit D).

The vitamin D measured in laboratories is usually 25 Vit D.

Daily requirements and food sources

The daily requirements of vitamin D are variously suggested at 200 iu/day in babies and children and up to 700 IU/day or more in old people. However, an average diet in the Western world often contains no more than 100 IU/day, with potential Vitamin D deficiency further exacerbated by lack of sunshine or insufficient exposure to sunlight. It has been suggested that in certain situations even up to 10,000 IU/day may be needed.

The best dietary sources of Vit D are oily fish, followed by eggs (egg yolk) and mushrooms (partly because of exposure to U/V light to make them whiter!). However, many food products are also fortified with Vitamin D and can be easily included within a healthy diet such as breakfast foods, baby foods, some fruit juices and margarines.

Causes of Vitamin D deficiency

There are many causes of Vitamin D deficiency, starting with nutritional deficiencies (particularly vegetarians), inadequate exposure to sunlight, liver or kidney disease, gastrointestinal diseases causing fat malabsorption (eg pancreatic disease, coeliac, Crohn’s) and very low fat diets. Some medicines also cause Vitamin D malabsorption such as Orlistat. Others, such as antiepileptics, are associated with increased breakdown of the vitamin in the liver as is alcohol abuse. A potentially major cause of Vitamin D deficiency in the Western world is obesity because Vitamin D is stored in fat and in obese individuals this leads to slower release and thus availability in blood.

Vitamin D replacement

As in the majority of individuals Vitamin D deficiency is the result of life style, changes in diets (particularly eating more oily fish), more exposure to sunlight and weight loss can improve blood levels. Supplements , such as cod liver oil (given in the past routinely to babies and children particularly) can also be beneficial. It should not be though forgotten that the main action of Vitamin D is to promote calcium absorption and normal bone formation and growth. Thus, for Vitamin D to be effective, there must be also adequate dietary calcium. The best sources of dietary calcium are milk (in the water part), followed by dairy products, small fish (such as sardines if eaten with bones) followed by eggs, pulses such as beans and white flour products.

SureSlim promotes Healthy Weight Loss by correcting your Diet Plan according to your Metabolism and in turn helping you to Lose Weight Fast, safetly and permenantly.