New research in Canada has shown that overweight people(not obese) outlives underweight and even normal weight people. The risk of death for underweight people is 1.73, 1.36 for obese and 0.83 for overweight people - this is calculated against to the risk of death for normal weight people defaulted as 1. There was also another similar study done in the United States a few years back.

This news is quite jaw dropping for me. I always knew that underweight people has higher mortality rate while they're older but I didn't expect overweight people to out live normal weight people.

This is not an encouragement to gain weight but rather a change of mindsets and believe. I always believe that science is ever changing and new research will gradually knock the old ones out. But right now, my thoughts is that normal weight people will have a better quality of living than any other group, at least up till our 50's or 60's.

Let's just wait for new research to come out before jumping the 'let's be overweight' wagon. It was only recent that research show the benefits of increased lifespan with the use of caloric deficit diet. Few years down the road, new discovery has led us pondering again.

Canadians who are slightly overweight live longer than people of normal weight, according to a new study that confirms similar findings from the U.S.

The study of body mass index followed 11,326 people age 25 or older over a 12-year period. The results appear online in the journal Obesity.

"It may be that a few extra pounds actually protect older people as their health declines, but that doesn't mean that people in the normal weight range should try to put on a few pounds," Mark Kaplan, a co-author of the study and a professor of Community Health at Portland State University, said in a release Tuesday.

As expected, people who were extremely underweight had the highest risk of dying, followed by the extremely obese.

During the study period, from 1994/1995 through 2006/2007, underweight and extremely obese people were more likely to die than people of normal weight. People who were overweight were less likely to die than those of normal weight.

A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered a normal weight.

Specifically, the increased risk of mortality over the 12 years of followup was 1.73 times higher for underweight Canadians compared to those with normal weight.

The risk was 1.36 times higher for obese people with a BMI over 35, compared to people of normal weight.

In contrast, people who were slightly overweight (BMI 25 to less than 30) had 0.83 times lower risk of death compared with normal weight people.

The fact that most deaths are among the elderly could explain why a small amount of extra weight may reduce one's risk, said study co-author David Feeny of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research.

"Being overweight may be protective as your health declines, as you have health shocks and you're less likely, as you lose a little weight with illness, to end up being really frail — because you had more to start with," Feeny said.

Data from Statistics Canada

Kaplan acknowledged that the study looked at mortality only, not quality of life. But people who choose a healthy lifestyle such as eating nutritiously and exercising regularly also tend to enjoy better health, he noted.

The researchers controlled for factors such as age, sex, physical activity and smoking.

The team used data from the National Population Health Survey conducted by Statistics Canada every two years.

A study conducted in the U.S. and published in 2005 in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed similar results.

The latest study was funded by the U.S. National Institute on Aging, the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Taken from: cbc.ca

This is an abstract of the article, I don't have the full article. Basically I was researching on proteinuria because I have this condition. I really don't want my kidneys to fail. I have tried superdosing B1 but I don't know if it works because I didn't get to do my 24hrs microalbumin test.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have discovered high doses of thiamine – vitamin B1 – can reverse the onset of early diabetic kidney disease.

Kidney disease, or diabetic nephropathy, develops progressively in patients with type 2 diabetes. Early development of kidney disease is assessed by a high excretion rate of the protein albumin from the body in the urine, known as microalbuminuria.
The research is led by Dr Naila Rabbani and Professor Paul J Thornalley at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Punjab and Sheik Zaid Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan.
The team has discovered taking high oral doses of thiamine can dramatically decrease the excretion of albumin and reverse early stage kidney disease in type 2 diabetes patients.


In a paper published online in the journal Diabetologia, the team show 300 mg of thiamine taken orally each day for three months reduced the rate of albumin excretion in type 2 diabetes patients. The albumin excretion rate was decreased by 41% from the value at the start of the study. The results also showed 35% of patients with microalbuminuria saw a return to normal urinary albumin excretion after being treated with thiamine.


Forty patients with type 2 diabetes aged between 35 and 65 years old took part in the trial. They were randomly assigned a placebo or 3 x 100mg tablets of thiamine a day for three months.



The Warwick research group has already conclusively proven that type 2 diabetes patients have a thiamine deficiency. In an earlier study led by Professor Paul Thornalley at Warwick Medical School, the research team showed that thiamine deficiency could be key to a range of vascular problems for diabetes patients.


Dr Rabbani said: “This study once again highlights the importance of Vitamin B1 and we need to increase awareness. Professor Thornalley and I are planning a foundation at the University of Warwick to further education and research in thiamine deficiency.”

Okay, I've done quite alot of research before I embarked trying to superdose Vit B1. I know that vitamin B1 is a water soluble vitamin, which means that it passes out of your body easily. Although 300mg a day is easily a few thousand % of ones daily need of Vitamin B1. It poses no significant harm. I cannot find the exact toxic dose but it was a few thousand mg/day the last time I saw it.

I know there are people insisting on taking Bentofiamine which is an oil soluble form of Vitamin B1, which means it would be better absorbed by the body(not flushed out). But this article points to Vitamin B1 and not Bentofiamine, so I'm not taking chances here. Besides, Bentofiamine is also much harder to find in my local pharmacy.

Posted this on my buddyslim blog, it's a good summary to my views on permanent weight loss.

What is Weight Loss to you?

Do you see it as a project kind of thing? I used to see it this way, 10 weeks and that’s it. After 10 weeks I’ll be a free and less heavier man. But I soon come to realize that reality does not smell as good as it should. After 10 weeks, it’s a struggle to maintain all that lost weight.

Rethink Weight Loss

Everyone can lose weight, in fact, weight loss is easy but weight maintenance is extremely hard. For those of you out there who is struggling with trying to lose weight Permanently. Here’s my advise. Rethink about what is really going wrong.

It is really more of a lifestyle issue rather than a diet issue that’s messing things up here. Why is it that many others do not have such weight issues and yet we’re battling it constantly? No, they’re not on a weight loss diet!!

If you could just find a way to eat the right foods at the correct amount of servings, all your issues are solved. It’s the thinking that has to change, instead of the diet. I used to place food as my priority, I think about it all the time. It is above everything else, I enjoyed it more than playing computer games because it’s just orgasmic to eat.

Few years down, food is replaced with health as my priority. I didn’t lose interest in food, I still enjoyed eating. But I’ve learnt how to juggle my appetite, cravings and what I should really eat. In other words, I’m more sensible when making choices about food.

I gotta admit, it’s a constant struggle and an endless battle that we’re fighting. I’ve maintained my lost weight for about 4 years now. But you know what, it’s actually pretty simple when you’re going through what I’m going through now.I don’t count my calories, I don’t have any specific diet, I don’t time my meals but I eat healthy food(not special food).

I know I might be making it sound really simple but it really is not difficult at all. Let me just briefly explain the habits that one should cultivate for permanent weight loss.

Habits for Permenant Weight Loss

1. Food is not your priority.

2. Know what you should eat

Read up, read up and read up, health education is precious. These are good for a start

Whole foods

Difference between healthy and unhealthy fats

Glycemic index

Good carbohydrates

3. Know how much to eat

Know what is the correct portion to eat for that particular food. I based mine on trial and error, but of course I do estimate my calories

4. Take food that you crave(most likely unhealthy food) as a reward rather than a snack/meal

5. Get moving

Move it! Get exercising. You won’t think of macdonald’s while running, swimming or doing anything that makes you move.

Before you pop it into your mouth, THINK! Is it worth it?? Many a times we're eating without thinking. A condition I love to refer to as Food Hypnosis. Munching down stuff and only realising soon after that you've eaten tons of it!

The smell and sight of the food just overwhelms everything in your mind. This often leads to binging and all the unnecessary eating.

The next time you're suddenly surrounded by these hypnotic food, please remember to think. Think with your mind and not your mouth.Think of how much time you'll need to burn off all that extra calories. All the hours of work that you need to do just to pay off what you enjoyed in a few minutes.

You can probably distract yourself first to make sure you think better. Take a sip of water, look else where, talk to someone, have a mint, chew on a piece of lemon, anything! Just don't set your eyes on the great hypnotists!

Taken from ScienceDaily

New research have shown that consumption of dietary fats is linked to an increase levels of the hormone, Ghrelin in the bloodstream (1). Ghrelin is known as the 'hunger' hormone, having more of it in your blood stream will mean having an increased appetite.

This news definately gave me something to ponder about. Because if we're just looking at the satiety index itself, fats actually gives the most satiety. My diet is moderately high in fat but I will not change my diet just because of this article. I'll be keeping my eyes open on new research though!


Reference
1. University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center. "Fatty Foods -- Not Empty Stomach -- Fire Up Hunger Hormone." ScienceDaily 8 June 2009. 15 June 2009 /releases/2009/06/090605151351.htm>.

Type 2 diabetes otherwise known as insulin resistance, is a common complication among the Obese. I have been a diabetic for 7 years now and I'm glad to say I've manage to control it well. My blood glucose ranges used to be quite bad even when I was on metformin, I can't remember how much because I didn't bother about it at that time.

My lancet. This is good! Virtually pain free!

However I was told that if I were to continue with such results, I would have to be put on insulin jabs. Okay, that didn't work for me as well! I actually didn't bother about my diabetes until I lost some weight and my HBA1c improved. That was when I started to think about my health and my diabetes.

Today, I'm free of medication and my HBA1c stands at 5.3% as of 29th May. My only two weapons are my diet and exercises. Stay tuned, I will definitely post more information about diabetes in the future.

Forget Fad diets, they will not long term. The reason why many people are drawn to fad diets is probably because of the strict rules that are set. Only eat certain foods, only eat certain amount of foods etc. They told you what you should be eating instead of what you should not be eating. Being humans, most would go back to what they should not be eating in the first place.

Being overweight is actually a much simpler situation then it's portrayed to be. Someone who is overweight is someone who has been eating wrongly or not moving around enough. That's it! The only problem is to figure out how to adjust back to a normal diet.

If you could just practice most of these rules that I've stated, there will not be any problems to weight loss. I'll discuss more on these in the future

5 Golden Rules
1. Eliminate or cut out all junk food and beverages

2. Include more fruits and vegetables in your diet

3. Have at least 6 meals per day*(but learn how much to eat for each meal)

4. Include more lean protein and healthy fats into your meals

5. Drink plenty of water and Green Tea