Why I will not eat too much spanakopita this weekend

In case you needed another reason to put down the jumbo-sized bag of tortilla chips, here goes...apparently binge eating can make your brain go haywire. According to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (shout out to my alma mater!!), overeating could literally kick-start the type of damage that causes diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses. The new findings - which have been reported in the journal Cell - show that overeating appears to activate a usually dormant immune system pathway in the brain, sending out immune cells to attack and destroy invaders that are not there. Scientists say this could help explain why obesity causes so many different diseases. It might also offer a way to prevent obesity itself.
Okay. So while it sounds like these guys hope to eventually find a drug or gene therapy that prevents all this from happening, I'm thinking it's just another excuse to practice healthy eating habits and not indulge in every delicious item put in front of me. Putting it into yet another perspective...the economy is pretty lousy these days. And I certainly don't have the money to buy a whole new wardrobe once my pants get too tight!!

However, I may have to allow myself just a wee bit of wiggle room on Sunday, when I stop by Atlanta's Greek Festival. I love me some souvlaki, pastitsio, tiropita, rice pilaf and spanakopita! I know, I know...I'll be good. But you KNOW I will be enjoying at least one plate of food.

By the way, looky what I found! A sucralose-sweetened, low-cal baklava recipe. OPA!

Baklava

The skinny on the skinny gene

Ever had one of those friends who rarely hit the gym, eat every little thing in sight and still manage not to gain any weight? No, I'm not talking about folks with secret eating disorders. I'm referring to one of those fortunate people who, despite a more than healthy appetite, never seem to pile on the pounds. Well, apparently it truly is a genetic thing.

According to a report published last month in Cell Metabolism, a science journal, scientists have officially discovered a "skinny gene." The discovery of this lucky batch of DNA, they say, could help fight human obesity and diabetes.

"This gene is in every organism from worms to humans," says the study’s senior author, Dr. Jonathan Graff, an associate professor of developmental biology and internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "We all have it. It's very striking."

Graff and his colleagues had been hunting for a gene that might naturally keep people thin. Eventually, they turned up a promising candidate in a gene that controls fat formation: adipose.

The researchers ran tests on fruit flies, worms and mice and found that the gene meant the difference between fat and skinny. For example, they could make worms fat by deleting the adipose gene, while a single cell in a test tube would transform into fat cells when adipose was deleted. In addition, mice engineered to have efficient versions of the gene were much sleeker than normal counterparts - with only about one-third the body fat.

Obesity experts are thrilled with the results and say it could help lead to a treatment that mimics the gene's weight regulation abilities. Still, they cautioned that such a miracle pill is a long ways-away.

I tend to think it's a little too good to be true. Either way, until scientists prove this gene really does keep people skinny - and that it can successfully be turned into a an obesity cure - I'm inclined to hang onto my gym membership and keep watching my dietary intake.

Tough statistics to swallow…

According to a new study, 75 percent of adults will be overweight by 2015. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health say the obesity rate nationwide has skyrocketed over the past three decades. Most alarming, to me anyway, is the study found that women between the ages of 20 to 34 – regardless of race or ethnicity – are becoming obese and overweight at a faster rate than men and children. Time to make some lifestyle changes, if you haven’t already.