You can have too much of a good thing. Particularly when it comes to supplements, more is not always better. Even fish oil, which has proven beneficial for the heart, brain, and entire body, can be harmful if too much is taken. Taking extreme amounts of fish oil can actually harm your health. One of the biggest risks is excessive bleeding. Even modest amounts of fish oil (less than one gram) can thin the blood.

My husband, a preventive cardiologist and fellow cyclist, James O’Keefe, said that “fish oil is not an effective vehicle for weight loss. There are other modalities that will work better and are actually proven to help reduce body fat and build lean muscle mass. ” It’s also important to note that fish oil is not non-caloric. For example, 19 grams of fish oil will contain upwards of 300 calories and will not satiate as food will.

I’d like to recommend some proven ways to help increase muscle mass and reduce body fat (particularly dangerous abdominal fat). First, are you incorporating enough strength and resistance training into your workouts? Competitive cyclists, runners, etc. tend to do hours and hours of cardiovascular exercise each week, but fail to do enough strength training. Not only will strength training help build muscle, which helps burn calories, but it will also aid in injury-prevention.

Two supplements that are research-backed and also promising weight loss aids are whey protein isolate and tea extracts. As with anything, there are safe ranges of these as well. More is not better. We recommend using one serving of whey protein isolate daily. Use this as the protein source for a meal, or even better consume it an hour before or up to an hour following an intense workout. Whey protein isolate has been shown to help build lean muscle mass and to decrease belly fat. You may already be using a protein supplement post-workout, but quality counts here, as do calories. Many whey protein supplements are loaded with calories and sugar.

I recommend CardioTea supplements to all of my weight loss clients. CardioTea contains theaflavins (75 mg/capsule) and catechins (200 mg/capsule) from green and black teas, has very little caffeine, and each capsule contains 112.5 mg of EGCG. You only need one capsule a day. Research continues to show a relationship between consumption of tea and tea extract supplements (particularly catechins and EGCG) and weight loss, particularly around the middle.

My final recommendation is to keep a food journal. Journaling is the best way to keep track of your diet and the only way to recognize the mistakes.

Joan O’Keefe, RD

Joan and I came across a study that states an increase in vitamin d, the sunshine vitamin, can help weight loss. Vitamin D can be found most commonly in milk, but you can also find it in salmon, tuna fish, margarine, eggs(in the yolk) and some cereals. Shalamar Sibley, MD, from the University of Minnesota performed the study. “Sibley and her co-workers said that previous studies had reported an association between vitamin D deficiency and obesity, but ‘it is not clear if inadequate vitamin D causes obesity or the other way around’, she said.”

Here are some details about the study from Nutra-Ingredients

For every increase of 1 ng/mL in level of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol – a measure of vitamin D status – subjects ended up losing almost 0.2 kg more on their calorie-restricted diet, suggests findings presented at the Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

Furthermore, for each 1-ng/mL increase in the active form of vitamin D (1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol), subjects lost 0.107 kg more.

“Our results suggest the possibility that the addition of vitamin D to a reduced-calorie diet will lead to better weight loss,” said the study’s lead author, Shalamar Sibley, MD, from the University of Minnesota.

With obesity rates still high – not only in developed countries but also, increasingly, in newly wealthy emerging markets, there is considerable attention to ways to trim down waistlines.

What do guys think? Would you make an increased effort to take Vitamin D if it helped you lose weight?

By Joan O’Keefe, RD

Summer is unofficially here and now is the time to make a choice. How are you going to spend it? Are you going to sit indoors watching reality television or are you going to improve your health by getting outside?

That’s right. Sunshine will actually improve your health. When you’re outdoors on a sunny day, not only do you get to breathe fresh air, relax, take a break from stress, and enjoy the landscape, you’re improving your vitamin D levels as well. Unlike other vitamins and nutrients, Vitamin D is actually made inside our bodies in response to sunlight. It turns out, humans are solar-powered. Our mood, immunity and risk for major diseases are all affected by our Vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, weaker bones, higher risk of heart attacks, increased asthma risk, increased chances of developing the metabolic syndrome and increased risk for certain cancers, particularly breast and colon. Vitamin D affects our cognitive performance and is indicated in dementia. Everyday aches and pains are oftentimes symptoms of inadequate Vitamin D.

Vitamin D boosts immunity. Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers; they were outside all day with no sunscreen and were physically active. Now we’re hunkered down in houses and offices all day. Now, we need antibiotics for everything. It is against human nature to be inside all day. When we lived and worked outside, the sunshine was our natural immunity booster.

The choice is yours. All it takes is about 20 minutes of sunshine (no sunscreen) per day to soak up the vitamin D. If your skin is very dark, you are obese, or elderly, you may need more time. I recommend you visit your doctor and KNOW YOUR NUMBERS. Vitamin D levels are easily checked with a simple blood test. Ideally, vitamin D levels should be between 50 and 70. Keeping your levels in this range is tricky. Lifestyle plays a role in our vitamin D levels. You have to be vigilant about sun exposure (during the summer months – it is impossible to make vitamin D in the winter months above 37 degrees latitude – around Atlanta, GA). I recommend a supplement with 2,000 IU Vitamin D3 daily, especially if you are not getting adequate sun exposure every day.

Here is a list of the top heart-healthy foods as circulated by McClatchy Newspapers:

1. Fish, especially those high in omega-3 fatty acids. Those include salmon, tuna and sardines.

2. Beans — black, white, red, kidney — are loaded with soluble fiber, which lowers LDL cholesterol. Aim for 5 to 10 grams of soluble fiber a day (you need 25 to 30 grams of total fiber a day).

3. Soybeans.

4. Oats are another great source for soluble fiber.

5. Skim milk and yogurt are low in fat and high in calcium.

6. Berries — blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, lingonberries, raspberries — are loaded with phytonutrients, anti-oxidants and fiber.

7. Walnuts are high in omega-3 fatty acids.

8. Flaxseed is high in omega-3 fatty acids and soluble fiber. It is best to grind your flaxseed and keep it in the refrigerator or freezer.

9. Brussels sprouts are high in soluble fiber.

10. Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fat, but it’s still fat, so go easy.