Hotel In California - Why Do Sandwiches Taste Better When Someone Else Makes Them?

Source - http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/
By - Jonathan Becher
Category - Hotel In California
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel In California

At first blush, this explanation seems counter-intuitive. Studies have shown that picturing yourself eating a food you enjoy (perhaps chocolate) induces an increase in saliva and the desire to eat it.  Similarly, imagining the smell of a cigarette increases cravings in smokers.  So why doesn’t making a sandwich improve the taste?

Carnegie Mellon University researchers believe the answer lies in the fact that extended exposure to a stimulus (the sandwich) decreases the physiological and behavioral responses (wanting to eat it). In other words, seeing the sandwich get made over time makes it feel less novel and thus less desirable.  A similar phenomena works with repeated exposure to the same food: a fifth bite of chocolate is less desirable than the first.

In a series of five experiments, the CMU researchers showed the more often people imagined eating a food, the less likely they were to eat it later.  In addition, people who repeatedly imagined eating a specific food ate less of that food than people who repeatedly imagined eating a different food. According to the research, they ate less because they felt less hungry, not because they thought the food was less appetizing.

This is an extraordinary compelling idea. We will likely eat less if we make our own food and imagine eating it several times beforehand. Maybe we could call it the Daydream Diet.

Santa Clarita Local Colleges - Go To Bed Late And Gain Weight Says New Study

Source - http://guardianlv.com/
By - Rebecca Savastio
Category - Santa Clarita Local Colleges
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

 Santa Clarita Local Colleges

Terrible news for night owls everywhere-a new study that has been published in the journal Sleep says if you go to bed late, you will gain weight, even if you are otherwise healthy and do not have a weight problem. Main researcher Andrea Spaeth performed a controlled study, which split groups into those who slept from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and those who slept from 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. The seemingly unfortunate lot who stayed up until 4:00 a.m. ate more, and not only that; the food they ate was more fattening, meaning it was more calorie-dense and fat laden.

While previous studies have been done in this area, Spaeth and other researchers claim their study contained more subjects, and showed more weight gain. “Although previous epidemiological studies have suggested an association between short sleep duration and weight gain/obesity, we were surprised to observe significant weight gain during an in-laboratory study” Spaeth said. The study consisted of 225 people.

All of the study subjects were encouraged to be sedentary, that is, to avoid exercise, and they all had unlimited access to food during the duration of the study. There were some major differences, though, among several lines. Speath explained:

Among sleep-restricted subjects, there were also significant gender and race differences in weight gain. African Americans, who are at greater risk for obesity and more likely to be habitual short sleepers, may be more susceptible to weight gain in response to sleep restriction. Future studies should focus on identifying the behavioral and physiological mechanisms underlying this increased vulnerability.

Contrary to what the study might appear to prove at first glance, there was no magic reason why the late hours and lack of proper sleep caused more weight gain. The simple explanation is that people were hungry because they were awake longer, and therefore, ate more.

The comparison could be staying out late at night, dancing the night away, feeling starving at 3:00 a.m., piling into a friend’s car and heading to the diner for a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage and hash browns. The more activity you do, the hungrier you feel.

While a greater level of activity burns more calories, in the case of the study, the amount of food consumed superseded the amount of calories burned. Study subjects were also drawn to much fattier and calorie dense food than subjects who got the right amount of sleep. While researcher s did not offer a ready explanation for why the food consumed during the late night hours was more rich, a non-scientific observation could liken the sleep deprivation to any situation in which someone is drawn to comfort food. In this case, comfort food could sooth the pain of not getting enough good quality sleep.

Another possibility is that the extra activity could rev the metabolism and therefore cause more hunger than would normally be felt. While those examples are simply speculation, the study could certainly shed light on the extreme importance of getting the recommended eight hours of sleep rather than going to bed late when trying to manage weight gain.

Hotel In Santa Clarita - US Plans New Restrictions On The Snacks Schools Sell

Source - http://www.bostonglobe.com/
By - Mary Clare Jalonick and Connie Cass
Category - Hotel In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel In Santa Clarita

The days of eschewing healthier school lunches and filling up on cookies from the vending machine are numbered.

For the first time, the Agriculture Department is telling schools what sorts of snacks they can sell. The new restrictions announced Thursday fill a gap in nutrition rules that allowed many students to load up on fat, sugar, and salt despite the existing guidelines for healthy meals.

‘‘Parents will no longer have to worry that their kids are using their lunch money to buy junk food and junk drinks at school,’’ said Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, who pushed for the new rules.

That does not mean schools will be limited to doling out broccoli and brussels sprouts.

Snacks that still make the grade include granola bars, low-fat tortilla chips, fruit cups, and 100 percent fruit juice. And high school students can buy diet versions of soda, sports drinks, and iced tea.

Banned are some beloved school standbys, such as doughy pretzels, cookies, and those little ice cream cups with their own spoons.

The bottom line, Wootan said, is that the food must have nutritional value.

‘‘There has to be some food in the food,’’ she said.

Still, 17-year-old Vanessa Herrera of Rockaway, N.J., is partial to the Cheez-Its and sugar-laden vitamin water in her school’s vending machine.

Granola bars and bags of peanuts?

‘‘I don’t think anyone would eat it,’’ Herrera said.

The snack rules don’t take effect until the 2014-15 school year.

Accommodation In Santa Clarita - Tax Bite Curbs U.S. Growth Along With Consumer Spending

Source - http://www.bloomberg.com/
By - Shobhana Chandra
Category - Accommodation In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Accommodation In Santa Clarita

Growth in the world’s largest economy was less than originally estimated in the first quarter as an increase in the U.S. payroll tax took a bigger bite out of consumer spending than previously calculated.

Gross domestic product grew at a 1.8 percent annualized rate from January through March, down from a prior reading of 2.4 percent, Commerce Department data showed today in Washington. Household purchases were trimmed to a 2.6 percent advance -- still the fastest in two years -- from the 3.4 percent gain estimated last month.

Americans cut back on services from vacations to legal advice as the two percentage-point increase in the payroll tax caused incomes to drop by the most in more than four years. At the same time, an improving labor market and rising home prices are underpinning consumer confidence, one reason economists project growth will pick up in the second half of the year.

“You’re not seeing a big pullback in consumer spending, it is just weaker than previously estimated,” said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. “The housing recovery will continue to push forward. Overall growth is going to be stronger in the second half.”

Stocks and Treasury securities rallied on speculation the weaker-than-projected growth reading will prompt Federal Reserve policy makers to delay reducing bond purchases. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1 percent to 1,603.26 at the close in New York. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell to 2.54 percent from 2.61 percent late yesterday.
Financial System

Elsewhere, the Bank of England today said lenders are vulnerable to an abrupt increase in long-term interest rates as it warned confidence in the financial system remains fragile. The central bank ordered a review of banks’ exposure to interest-rate risk, which it said is not properly understood.

The U.S. government’s GDP estimate is the third and final one for the quarter. The 0.6 percentage-point reduction was the biggest for a final reading of GDP since the figure for the third quarter of 2009, which was lowered by the same amount.

The median forecast of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 2.4 percent rise in first-quarter GDP, the same as the Commerce Department previously estimated. The economy grew at a 0.4 percent pace in the last three months of 2012.

The downward revision was centered in consumer spending on services, with the updated figures showing a 1.7 percent gain compared with a prior estimate of 3.1 percent. Outlays in the category that includes tourism, legal help and personal care items such as haircuts, dropped in the first quarter from the previous three months. Spending on health-care services grew at a slower pace than previously projected.

Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita - Big Weight Loss For Diabetics, But No Drop In Heart Risk

Source - http://www.upr.org/
By - Nancy Shute
Category - Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

HotelReservationsInSantaClarita

Hundreds of overweight or obese people with diabetes have been able to do something very few Americans have done: lose a big chunk of weight and keep it off for 10 years.

So should it matter if that epic weight loss didn't reduce the risk of heart disease? Maybe not.

That's one response to the results of the Look AHEAD clinical trial, which checked to see if losing weight reduced heart disease risk in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Maintaining a healthful weight is an important way to prevent and manage diabetes. It's also helps reduce heart disease risk. So the researchers were surprised to find that even though the study participants lost weight and kept it off, they didn't reduce their risk of heart attacks, stroke and chest pain.

Researchers at 16 institutions had organized a long-running clinical trial to measure the effect of weight loss, enrolling more than 5,000 obese or overweight people ages 45 to 75 with Type 2 diabetes. They averaged about 200 pounds.

Half of the group was assigned to an intensive lifestyle intervention that involved eating less — 1,200 to 1,800 calories a day — and putting in at least three hours of moderate exercise a week. They got counseling and attended meetings to help them stick with the program.

Those people lost an average of 8.6 percent of their body weight in the first year, which isn't easy to do. Most weight-loss studies can eke out only a few percentage points of change in that time.

The people in the control group, who didn't get the lifestyle help, lost almost 1 percent of body weight in the first year.

Both groups managed to avoid major backsliding, which typically happens with weight-loss trials. The intervention group gained some weight back in years two through five, but ended up with a 6 percent loss over 10 years. The control group lost weight gradually, and was down about 4 percent at the end. All told, 1,193 people stayed with the trial throughout.

Excess weight is considered a risk factor for both cardiovascular disease and diabetes, so the researchers figured they'd see improvements in both.

Instead, they had to stop the trial early, after almost 10 years, when it was clear that the people in the weight-loss group weren't getting any extra protection from heart attacks, strokes, or angina.

But the trial wasn't a failure, the the researchers say. It shows that people with diabetes "can lose weight and maintain that weight loss," lead author Rena Wing, a professor of psychiatry at Brown University, reported at the American Diabetes Association meeting in Chicago. The results were published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The weight-loss group also had better glycemic control and lower systolic blood pressure, spent less money on medications, had less sleep apnea, and was more likely to have a partial remission of diabetes. They were less likely to land in the hospital. And they also felt better.

"This study in no way disproves the important of weight reduction and exercise," says Dr. Douglas Zipes, a distinguished professor emeritus at the Indiana University School of Medicine and past president of the American College of Cardiology. "There were significant benefits achieved."

The control group took more statins and other drugs to reduce cardiovascular risk, Zipes notes, which could have clouded the study's findings.

And he says that years of evidence showing that eating well and exercising reduce heart disease risk still stand. "We've been able to reduce mortality from heart disease by 60 percent over the past three decades," he said.

Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita - Weight Loss No Help For Heart In Diabetes

Source - http://www.medpagetoday.com/
By - Charlene Laino
Category - Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita

An intensive lifestyle intervention focusing on weight loss did not reduce the rate of cardiovascular events in overweight or obese adults with type 2 diabetes, according to final results of the randomized controlled Look AHEAD trial.

The study was halted in September on the basis of a futility analysis that showed no significant differences in the composite primary outcome of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for angina between those who had the intervention and those who only received support: 1.83 versus 1.92 events per 100 person-years, respectively (P=0.51).

Rena Wing, PhD, of Brown University, and colleagues reported their findings simultaneously online in the New England Journal of Medicine and at the American Diabetes Association meeting here.

Nonetheless, people in the intervention group benefited in terms of a host of other ways, Mary Evans, PhD, director of Look AHEAD at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, told The Gupta Guide.

"They sustained 6% weight loss over 10 years. They had clinically meaningful improvements in glycated hemoglobin levels and less diabetes and less retinopathy. There were also improvements in quality of life and reduction in depression," she said.

Evans said explanations for the lack of benefit among people in the intervention group include greater use of medications in the control group. "The drugs, particularly statins, could have lowered their risk of cardiovascular disease.

"Or perhaps people in the intervention group didn't achieve enough weight loss," she said.

The Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) trial enrolled 5,145 overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes at 16 centers in the U.S.

Patients were randomized to either an intensive lifestyle intervention that focused on cutting calories and increasing physical activity or to a control group that only received diabetes support and education.

When the trial was stopped in September 2012, the median follow-up time was 9.6 years.

Weight loss was greater in the intervention group than in the control group throughout the study (8.6% versus 0.7% at 1 year; 6.0% versus 3.5% at study end).

The intense lifestyle change also produced greater initial improvements in fitness and cardiovascular risk factors, except for LDL cholesterol. But the between-group differences diminished over time.

As for adverse events, the rate of self-reported fractures was significantly higher in the intervention group: 2.51 versus 2.16 per 100 person-years in the control group (P=0.01). However, there was no significant difference in the rate of adjudicated fractures (1.66 and 1.64 per 100 person-years, respectively).

A limitation of the study is that patients who were motivated to lose weight were recruited, so the findings may not generalize to all patients, the researchers said.

In an accompanying editorial, Hertzel Gerstein, MD, of the University of Hamilton in Ontario in Canada, wrote, "Even with no clear evidence of cardiovascular benefit, the Look AHEAD investigators have shown that attention to activity and diet can safely reduce the burden of diabetes and have reaffirmed the importance of lifestyle approaches as one of the foundations of modern diabetes care."

Hotels In Northern California - Mandela's Health Worsens, Condition Now 'Critical'

Source - http://www.reuters.com/
By - Ed Cropley
Category - Hotels In Northern California 
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotels In Northern California

The worsening of his condition is bound to concern South Africa's 53 million people, for whom Mandela remains the architect of a peaceful transition to democracy in 1994 after three centuries of white domination.

A government statement said President Jacob Zuma and the deputy leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Cyril Ramaphosa, visited Mandela in his Pretoria hospital, where doctors said his condition had gone downhill in the last 24 hours.

"The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is well looked after and is comfortable," it said, referring to him by his clan name.

Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president after historic all-race elections nearly two decades ago, was rushed to a Pretoria hospital on June 8 with a recurrence of a lung infection, his fourth hospitalisation in six months.

Until Sunday, official communiques had described his condition as "serious but stable" although comments last week from Mandela family members and his presidential successor, Thabo Mbeki, suggested he was on the mend.

Since stepping down after one term as president, Mandela has played little role in the public or political life of the continent's biggest and most important economy.

His last public appearance was waving to fans from the back of a golf cart before the final of the soccer World Cup in Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium in July 2010.

During his retirement, he has divided his time between his home in the wealthy Johannesburg suburb of Houghton, and Qunu, the village in the impoverished Eastern Cape province where he was born.

The public's last glimpse of him was a brief clip aired by state television in April during a visit to his home by Zuma and other senior ANC officials.

At the time, the 101-year-old liberation movement, which led the fight against white-minority rule, assured the public Mandela was "in good shape" although the footage showed a thin and frail old man sitting expressionless in an armchair.

"Obviously we are very worried," ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu told Johannesburg station Talk Radio 702. "We are praying for him, his family and the doctors."

"ABSOLUTELY AN ICON"

Since his latest admission to hospital, well-wishers have been arriving at his Johannesburg home, with scores of school-children leaving painted stones outside the gates bearing prayers for his recovery.

However, for the first time, South African media have broken a taboo against contemplating the inevitable passing of the father of the post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation" and one of the 20th century's most influential figures.

The day after he went into hospital, South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper carried a front-page headline saying it was "time to let him go".

"He's absolutely an icon and if he's gone we just have to accept that. He will be gone but his teachings, what he stood for, I'm sure we've all learnt and we should be able to live with it and reproduce it wherever we go," said Tshepho Langa, a customer at a Johannesburg hotel.

"He's done his best," he added. "We are grateful for it and we are willing to do the good that he has done."

Despite the widespread adulation, Mandela is not without detractors at home and in the rest of Africa who feel that in the dying days of apartheid he made too many concessions to whites, who make up just 10 percent of the population.

After more than 10 years of affirmative action policies aimed at redressing the balance, South Africa remains one of the world's most unequal societies, with whites still controlling much of the economy and the average white household earning six times more than a black one.

"Mandela has gone a bit too far in doing good to the non-black communities, really in some cases at the expense of (blacks)," Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 89, said in a documentary aired on South African television this month.

"That's being too saintly, too good, too much of a saint."