Archives for Science

Keeping Up With ProZone – March/April 2021

24 March 2021

Carol’s Corner Time’s Flying – Regain Control Where You Can Here we are 12-months’ since COVID-19 came at the beginning of Autumn, and what a roller coaster those 12-months’ have been with the ever changing Level changes, research revealing more about the virus, and the very fast (in terms of scientific discoveries) vaccine development and distribution. In the past year we have also had earthquakes across New Zealand, as well as tsunami warnings, so life is definitely still strange for all of us. It all contributes to making people feel stressed, uneasy, and not in control. But, one thing
More

Categories: Products, Science, and Testimonials.

Keeping Up With ProZone – February 2019

20 February 2019

Carol’s Corner Happy New Year everyone. It’s scary to think that it’s already halfway through February, but we’ve been enjoying such a lovely summer the time has just gone. We spent almost 6 weeks at our beach place, apart from the odd trip home to pack parcels and sort a few things, during which we’ve enjoyed lovely walks on the beach for an hour early every morning. I take bags and pick up rubbish on the beach which is mostly relatively clean. Apart from bits of plastic, rope, dirty nappies, and lolly papers, we also found several pairs of perfectly
More

Categories: Products, Science, and Testimonials.
Tags: Dr. Sears, hormones, insulin, PureFit, and weight.

Featured Article – Three Hormones That Could Be Affecting Your Weight

20 February 2019

Featured Article Three Hormones That Could Be Affecting Your Weight From Dr Sears Lab Many of the problems that prevent us from reaching our weight loss goals are due to hormonal imbalance. If you are careful about your food choices, exercise regularly and still aren’t seeing the scale budge, your hormones may be to blame. When trying to reach the Zone, you’ll often hear us talk about the importance of hormonal control. When our hormones are unbalanced it can accelerate the aging process, decrease our overall wellness, and hinder our ability to perform or maintain our weight. Here we’ll focus specifically on
More

Categories: Science.
Tags: adiponectin, cortisol, Dr. Sears, fat, hormones, inflammation, insulin, insulin resistance, lose weight, weight, and Zone.

Coconut Oil – is it okay?

8 November 2016

Every time I give a presentation to a group I get asked about coconut oil. Below is Dr Sears comment from Dr Sears Zone Labs blog: Coconut Oil Some studies show that coconut oil has health benefits. They include benefits for the skin, hair and heart. Coconut oil is made up of medium chain fatty acids. It is also anti-microbial and anti-fungal. The smoke point of coconut oil is 350 degrees Fahrenheit and is safe for cooking. Coconut oil is believed to have the following health benefits: It may support heart health It may help with weight loss It may
More

Categories: Client questions answered, Comments, and Science.
Tags: coconut, coconut oil, health, heart health, lauric acid, and olive oil.

More Comment on the Paleo Diet

21 May 2015

Contributed by Kevin Bateman Bevan Eyles is a fitness professional who writes a weekly feature health wellbeing and diet in the Dominion Post. I have found his articles to be basic sound advice and his comments about the Paleo diet Dom Post Thursday 21 May are no exception. Mr. Eyles writes about the experience of an acquaintance with the Paleo diet who lost 5 kilos in his first month of following its rules which included giving up alcohol and junk food. Eyles quite rightly commented why most diets appear to work i.e. they are a set of rules and any
More

Categories: Comments and Science.
Tags: alcohol, diet, healthy food, lifestyle, nutrition, Paleo, portion size, sustainable, wellbeing, and Zone.

The Continuing Obesity Debate

3 November 2014

Wallace Chapman’s Sunday Morning programme of 2/11/14 also included an interview with Dr Peter Gluckman who is scientific adviser to the NZ Government generally but with particular emphasis on the growing obesity problem. Dr Gluckman who continually referred to himself as “fat” quoted the latest science on obesity but unfortunately did not come up with any useful practical information for the listeners except his support for banning fizzy drinks in schools. Dr Gluckman emphasized that we are genetically programmed for obesity starting with the dietary behaviour of our mothers and fathers prior to our conception and particularly while our mother
More

Categories: Comments and Science.
Tags: blood sugar, carbohydrates, diabetes, gestational diabetes, obesity, and protein.

Important update on pasta

3 November 2014

The Dominion Post 28/10/14 had an article about the effects of reheating pasta on its Glycaemic Index (GI). It is well known that when pasta is cooled it gives a lower spike of blood sugar (i.e. lower GI). It was assumed that when it is reheated that the pasta would revert to producing high blood sugar. This reheating theory was tested by 5:2diet author Dr Micheal Mosley and Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, Chris van Tulleken from University College London. The results of this research is groundbreaking – not only did the reheated pasta not revert to its origin higher
More

Categories: Comments and Science.
Tags: blood sugar, glycaemic index, health, pasta, starch, and weight.

“Healthy” Snack Bars

10 October 2014

Consumer has tested and commented on 35 snack bars sold in New Zealand. it quite rightly says that most are high in sugar and saturated fats and are unhealthy. Consumer used the new health star rating system which has been introduced by the government. It is a label on the front of the pack which gives consumers an “at a glance” guide to the nutrition value of food with five stars being the healthiest and one star being the most unhealthy. Nine of the 35 bars received 3 stars or more with only four bars gaining four stars or more.
More

Categories: Comments, Products, and Science.
Tags: balanced, Balanced Bars, dairy-free, energy, fat, fibre, gluten-free, non-dairy, nutrition, snack, sugar, and vegan.

Sugar – the Real Problem

18 February 2014

The World is Waking Up to the Consequences of Sugar Addiction There have been several articles written over the summer about the obesity epidemic with it’s resulting damage to our health. It is particularly interesting to see that the experts are starting to recognize that the main cause of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and the other conditions caused by underlying inflammation is caused by the amount of sugar in our diet. One of my mantras is that “it isn’t fat that makes you fat, it’s sugar that makes you fat”. I didn’t make that up of course, Dr Sears wrote
More

Categories: Comments and Science.
Tags: diabetes, diet, fat, heart disease, obesity, sugar, and Zone.

New Heart Foundation Recommendations

7 November 2013

The NZ Heart Foundation’s new revised healthy food choice advice has been released and published in the 7th November edition of the The Dominion Post. They have distanced themselves from their old failed model by scrapping the well known Pyramid completely and have replaced it with a stylized heart. The new advice recommends consuming food groups in what appears to be approximately the following proportions: 40% vegetables and fruit – eat most 25% breads, cereals, grains, starchy vegetables – eat some 15% fish, meat, chicken, legumes, eggs 12% milk, yoghurt, cheese 5% oils, nuts – use some 3% cut back on
More

Categories: Announcements, Comments, and Science.
Tags: carbohydrates, fat, healthy food, Heart Foundation, pyramid, sugar, and trans fats.

“Healthy Drinks”

9 September 2013

There was an article in the DomPost on Saturday about so-called healthy drinks. It opens with “Fruit juices and smoothies represent a new risk to our health because of the amount of sugar the apparently healthy drinks contain”. While there is very little dispute over the amount of sugar and dangers in soft drinks it is enlightening that so called “healthy drinks” are finally being recognized for what they are. A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice may contain up to 6 oranges or 12 blocks of carbohydrate. I have had people come to see me who say “I have
More

Categories: Products, Recipes, and Science.
Tags: balanced, carbohydrates, nutrition, protein, and Zone.

Carbohydrate Addiction

9 September 2013

The latest North & South (September 2013) has an excellent article about carbohydrates titled “Carbohydrate Addiction is Real – and it’s killing us”. It states that “the number of obese people in the world is now greater than the number who are starving” which is something I wrote about in an earlier blog. Along with the obesity is the huge increase in people suffering diabetes. In China there are 90 million people with the disease and in India 908,000 people died from related causes in 2011. In New Zealand the statistics are just as frightening with the ever growing costs of
More

Categories: Comments, Other, and Science.

Why Do We Tend To Overeat?

18 July 2013

Contributed by Kevin Bateman The only processed breakfast cereal that I eat is small amounts of Kelloggs® All Bran that I add to my home-made muesli mix. There is a recipe in the ProZone book. All Bran has 45.4g carbohydrate per 100g, which is very moderate for a refined cereal, and it has 29.5g fibre per 100g. This high fibre content helps slow sugar absorption into the bloodstream. So we can use a little All Bran and still maintain healthy blood sugar levels. I am referring to All Bran Original, the squiggly stuff, as there are several other varieties of Kelloggs®
More

Categories: Science.
Tags: blood sugar, carbohydrates, diabetes, fat, hormonal balance, obesity, protein, and Zone.

Childhood Obesity

13 June 2013

There was an article in the DomPost (June 5) about childhood obesity that made disturbing reading. It quoted Otago University Associate Professor Rachael Taylor who stated that “30 precent of Kiwi children are already overweight or obese at 2 to 4 years of age and that 80% of parents of preschoolers do not recognise that there child is overweight because of the normalisation of the bigger person”. She also said that “if you are obese as a teenager you are far more likely to be obese as an adult”. Zone nutrition is suitable for all ages. We have children doing it
More

Categories: Comments and Science.
Tags: blood sugar, carbohydrates, health, nutrition, and Zone.

Sleep and health

26 February 2013

The 7 May 2010 Dominion Post reported on recent research published in the journal Sleep and carried out by the British University of Warwick in conjunction with the Frederico II University Medical School in Naples that involved analysing 16 studies involving a total of 1.3 million people. The study gave results that the researchers claim to be “unequivocal evidence” of a link between sleep deprivation and premature death. They noted that people who slept for less than six hours a day were 12% more likely to die before age 65 than those who slept the recommended six to eight hours
More

Categories: Client questions answered and Science.
Tags: cancer, carbohydrates, diabetes, health, melatonin, and Sleep.