Dr. John Day, Cardiologist

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The Top 10 Causes of Weight Gain

The average American gains 1 to 2 pounds a year.  That is as little as 10 extra calories a day–less than one bite of food.  This weight gain is so subtle that most people don’t even know it is happening until one day they tune in and discover that they have gained 20 to 30 pounds since high school.

The famous 5th century B.C. Chinese General, Sun Zi, said in the book The Art of War, “If you know the enemy and yourself, you need not fear…If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will lose every battle.”

In this article, I am going to help you better know the enemy and share with you the top 10 causes of weight gain.  It is only by knowing the enemy and yourself that you can enjoy the weight that works best for you.

My High School Weight

While not especially lean, I weighed a respectable 180 pounds in high school.  My first year away at college, rather than “The Freshman 15,” I actually added “The Freshman 25” and hit a peak weight of 205 pounds during my first nine months away from home.

Fortunately, I started exercising again after my freshman year of college, which helped prevent further weight gain. However, it did not allow me to lose all of the weight I had gained.  I carried that extra weight around for two more decades until my 40s when I was forced to change my diet and lifestyle due to other health problems.

The Best Study on Weight Gain

To better know the enemy, most of the scientific data I am going to share with you is from a seminal Harvard study published in the most prestigious medical journal, the New England Journal of Medicine.  This study involved 120,877 U.S. men and women and the lead author was my former classmate, and fellow cardiologist, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian.

What surprised me most about this Harvard study was that it wasn’t just one thing that cause people to gain weight.  Rather, it was a cluster of bad habits and lifestyle choices that led to 1 or 2 extra pounds each year.  Unfortunately, as the weight goes up so do chronic medical problems as well as the need to take lifelong medications and make appointments with the cardiologist or other doctors.

I should also point out that these top 10 causes of weight gain have also been seen in other studies.  Also, the Harvard study did not show causation but rather correlation.  In other words, weight gain was observed to happen in people who reported doing these 10 things–whether or not this was the actual cause of their weight gain cannot be determined from this Harvard study.

The Top 10 Causes of Weight Gain

1. Can’t Find Time to Exercise: 0.44 pounds/year (0.2 kg/yr)

It should come as no surprise that not exercising was the number one cause of weight gain.  While a weight gain of just 0.44 pounds per year (0.2 kg/yr) may not sound like too much of a price to pay for not exercising, this adds up to a total weight gain of 21 pounds (9.4 kg) from high school to retirement at age 65.

While many people mistakingly feel that you can exercise off a bad diet, the research just doesn’t support this.  Exercise is for maintaining not losing weight.  Even during my marathon running years, when I was running 20 or more miles a day, I never seemed to burn off the extra weight I gained from my freshman year of college.

2. French Fries and Potato Chips: 0.42 pounds/year (0.19 kg/yr)

The number two cause of weight gain caught me by surprise.  While I knew French fries and potato chips caused people to gain weight, I would never have predicted that this effect would be stronger than sugary drinks.

Even more surprising was that the average person in this study only ate French fries or potato chips one time per week at most.  I suspect the reason why fries and chips are so dangerous to your waistline is because these processed potatoes are instantly converted to sugar in the body, they contain high amounts of unhealthy oils, and the same people who eat fries are more likely to eat other junk food as well.

As with a lack of exercise, this gradual weight gain from fries and chips, on average, adds up to a grand total of 20 extra pounds (9.1 kg) by retirement.

3. Trans Fat from Processed and Fried Foods: 0.36 pounds/year (0.16 kg/yr)

Number three in this Harvard study also came as a surprise to me.  While I was well aware of the ultra artery clogging effects of trans fat, I had no idea this toxic fat also causes people to pack on the weight.

When it comes to trans fat in the diet, most of my patients mistakingly believe this is no longer a problem as all of their packaged food labels read “zero” for trans fat.  What they don’t understand is that, based on lax reporting guidelines, processed food companies can create such unrealistically small portion sizes so that the trans fat content in a “microscopic serving” is below the required reporting level of 0.5 grams.

To keep your arteries clean and your weight in check, if you see “partially hydrogenated oil” anywhere on the ingredient list then this is something that you should never eat.  When it comes to trans fat, there is no safe amount you can eat.

In addition to processed foods, the worst trans fat offenders are fried foods, microwave popcorn, and store bought bakery items.  If you give in and eat processed or fried foods you can count on gaining an average of 17 pounds (7.7 kg) and a likely visit to a cardiologist by retirement age.

4. Sugary Drinks: 0.25 pounds/year (0.11 kg/yr)

While falling much lower on this list than I would have expected, sugary drinks are still an important cause of weight gain.  In addition to sugary drinks, other forms of sugar like desserts, refined grains, and fruit juice combined also added up to an additional 0.25 pounds/year (0.11 kg/yr).  By refined grains, I am referring to the typical grocery store breads, pastas, cereals, crackers, etc.

Thus, if you do sugary drinks, desserts, refined grains, and fruit juice you can expect to gain 0.5 pounds/yr (0.22 kg/year) from your sweet tooth–an even greater effect than not exercising.

It is interesting that fruit juice did not cause as much weight gain as sugar sweetened beverages like Gatorade or soda pop.  The lead author of the Harvard study, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, was also surprised and explained that the reason was likely because they found that most people seem to drink sugary beverages in much greater quantities than fruit juice.

Once again, it did not take much to increase weight.  The average person in this study only had a little more than 1 sugary drink per week and 1.3 servings of dessert and 1.2 servings of refined grains each day.

Regardless, doing all forms of sugar namely sugary drinks, desserts, refined grains, and fruit juice, even in very small amounts, can add up to a hefty 23.5 pound (10.7 kg) average weight gain by retirement.

5. Red Meat: 0.24 pounds/year (0.11 kg/yr)

For those who follow a dietary regimen that advocates meat, I’m sure the number five cause of weight gain in the Harvard study comes as a surprise.  I should point out that all meats are not raised and processed equally, and that most of the 120 thousand plus people in this study were eating the typical grocery store or prepared forms of meat which come from antibiotic and hormone treated animals.

Equally as strong as red meat for weight gain in this study were processed meats.  By processed meats I mean meats like bacon, hot dogs, sausage, and deli meats.  If you eat processed meats you can expect to gain an additional 0.23 pounds each year.  Thus, eating both red and processed meats will cause you to gain, on average, 0.47 pounds per year or 22 pounds (10 kg) by retirement.

I should point out that the people in this study did not eat much red or processed meats.  Indeed, the average person had less than one serving daily of red and processed meats combined.

If you are a meat eater, and don’t want to gain weight, then the Harvard study would suggest giving up red meats as well as processed meats and instead focus on poultry or fish.

6. Stress: 0.15 pounds/year (0.07 kg/yr)

Most of us also know that we naturally crave junk food when we are feeling stressed.  Stress causes changes to the hormones that regulate hunger.  According to the study I use to calculate the damage from stress, you can also count on gaining an average of 7 extra pounds (3.2 kg) if you are under a lot of stress.

7. Sleep Deprivation, 0.14 pounds/year (0.06 kg/yr)

Most people intuitively know that they also crave junk food when they are tired.  I know this is a weakness of mine after I have been up all night in the hospital taking care of patients.  Sleep deprivation is a well known cause of activating our hunger hormones in a way that causes weight gain.

What most people don’t understand is that when it comes to weight gain, over sleeping seems to be just as dangerous as under sleeping.  In a separate study I use to calculate the weight gain risks associated with sleep duration, it shows that sleeping under 5 hours or over 9 hours a night puts you at risk of weight gain.

Based on these definitions, if you under or over sleep you can count on gaining an average 7 extra pounds (3.5 kg) from high school to retirement.

8. Butter: 0.12 pounds/year (0.05 kg/yr)

In the 1980s and 90s a, few people would have been surprised to see butter on this list.  Yes, it is true that butter is much healthier for you than the trans fat containing products, like margarine, from the 1980s and 1990s.

While butter made the top 10 based on the data from the Harvard study, I should point out that dairy had mixed effects when it came to weight gain or loss over time.  For example, the Harvard study showed that cheese also caused weight gain but milk was neutral and yogurt even caused significant weight loss over time.

Thus, the type of dairy seems to be important in determining whether or not you gain or lose weight with dairy.  For the worst dairy offender, butter, it can cause you to gain an average of 6 pounds (2.7 kg) from high school to retirement.

9. Alcohol: 0.1 pounds/year (0.05 kg/yr)

As with dairy, the data on alcohol and weight gain are mixed.  Heavy beer drinkers seem to show the highest weight gains from alcohol.  In the Harvard study, alcohol drinkers can expect to gain an average 0.1 pounds per year or 5 pounds (2.3 kg) by retirement.

10. Electronic Devices: 0.08 pounds/year (0.04 kg/yr)

Rounding out the top 10 list are electronic devices. When this Harvard study looked at television watchers, they found that just 36 minutes a day contributes to an average four extra pounds (1.7 kg) by retirement.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it, the scientifically proven 10 best ways to gain weight as an adult.  When it comes to changing any bad habit, the first step is awareness.

As the 5th century B.C. famous Chinese general, Sun Zi taught us in The Art of War, the key to wining any battle is to know the enemy and yourself.  Now that we have identified our top 10 enemies in weight gain, it is time to become aware and create an environment that helps us to conquer these enemies.

What is your number one weight gain enemy?  What has helped you to battle this enemy?

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Do you have any of these 12 magnesium deficiency symptoms?

You probably have no idea that you are currently suffering from magnesium deficiency. Indeed, studies show that up to 89% of Americans are magnesium deficient.  Read on to see if you have any of these 12 magnesium deficiency symptoms.

Jill’s Experience

Jill was a 45-year-old woman suffering from a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. It made no sense why someone so young should develop this heart condition as she didn’t have any of the usual atrial fibrillation risk factors.

The only tip-off as to the cause of her atrial fibrillation was that she was taking Prilosec for acid reflux, Lasix occasionally for leg swelling, and she was eating the “Standard American Diet.” Even though her magnesium levels came back normal on her blood test, I suspected a magnesium deficiency as the cause of her heart problem.

Interestingly, once I convinced her to replace all added sugars and processed foods with real foods which included a massive salad every day, she immediately lost 20 pounds without even trying. In no time at all her acid reflux was gone and she was off the Prilosec. Also, with no added sugars or processed foods, her legs no longer swelled so there was no further need of diuretics.

Best of all, she felt better than she had ever felt and her atrial fibrillation went away. As she made many lifestyle changes, it was impossible to know what exactly drove her atrial fibrillation into remission.

However, in my mind, I’m sure replacing her magnesium stores played a role. Continue reading to figure out how she boosted her magnesium stores.

Can you test for magnesium deficiency?

While you can test for magnesium deficiency, you probably don’t want the test your doctor orders. The reason for this is because the standard magnesium test only measures the magnesium in your blood.

As 99% of your magnesium is not freely floating around in your blood but rather is inside of your cells and bones, you need a better test for magnesium deficiency. Of the various ways to test for magnesium deficiency, probably the best is the RBC magnesium test. The RBC magnesium test measures the amount of magnesium inside of your red blood cells.

Who is at risk for magnesium deficiency?

Many things contribute to magnesium deficiency. For example, if you are under a lot of stress, you likely are not absorbing much magnesium from your food.  Those who love drinking filtered or bottled water also aren’t getting much magnesium. And processed foods are notorious for being completely absent of magnesium.

Other conditions contributing to magnesium deficiency include being overweight, diabetic, or over age 60. Likewise, many prescription medications like diuretics or acid-blocking medications are also keeping your magnesium levels dangerously low.

Do you have any of these 12 magnesium deficiency symptoms?

1. Weight Gain/Diabetes

When you don’t get enough magnesium in your food and water, it can cause glucose and insulin levels to rise.  When insulin levels are high, you may suffer from food cravings.  Unfortunately, these food cravings are generally for sugar or processed carbohydrates which lead to further weight gain.

2. Fatigue and Muscle Weakness

Magnesium is a critical component of energy production in the body.  In fact, the body’s energy molecule, ATP, is created through magnesium dependent chemical reactions.

If you are tired all the time, you are probably magnesium deficient.  Likewise, if your muscles are weak, you may also not be getting enough magnesium.

3. Anxiety

People under high levels of mental or physical stress, poorly absorb magnesium from the gastrointestinal tract. Contributing to a downward spiral, magnesium deficiency is a significant cause of anxiety.  Fortunately, studies show that restoring the magnesium may help in the treatment of anxiety.

4. Insomnia

Having enough magnesium balances out your stress hormones.  Magnesium also helps the body maintain sufficient melatonin and other sleep hormones.  Indeed, magnesium supplementation has been shown to help with sleep.

5. Depression

Magnesium deficiency and depression go hand in hand.  Low magnesium stores lead to depression and people suffering from depression are more likely to eat a diet low in magnesium.

6. Dental Cavities or Osteoporosis

Dental cavities and osteoporosis are two more signs of magnesium deficiency.  Magnesium affects vitamin D metabolism and osteocalcin which play a vital role in bone turnover and formation.

Ironically, if you are taking calcium supplements for osteoporosis, you may be making matters worse. Calcium supplementation can throw off your calcium/magnesium balance.

7. Constipation

If you suffer from constipation you probably are magnesium deficient.  Magnesium in any form is an excellent laxative.

8. Muscle Cramps or Migraine Headaches

Do you suffer from leg cramps, eye twitches, or muscle spasms?  Do you get frequent headaches? These may all be magnesium deficiency symptoms.

9. Inflammation, Arthritis, or Autoimmune Diseases

If you suffer from chronic inflammatory conditions, such as arthritis or autoimmune diseases, you may be magnesium deficient.  Studies have linked magnesium deficiency to arthritis and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) blood tests.

10. Palpitations, Heart Attacks, Heart Failure, or Cardiac Arrest

Most forms of heart disease are linked to magnesium deficiency.  This mineral is critical to optimal cardiac function.

11. Thyroid Problems

Thyroid problems are widespread in the U.S.  Research suggests that many thyroid issues may be due to magnesium deficiency.

12. Cancer

Cancer may be a wake-up call that magnesium levels are low. Magnesium is a critical nutrient for many DNA repair mechanisms.   As new cancer cells are created every day in your body, you need your DNA repair mechanism functioning optimally.

Magnesium in Our Water

Our ancestors used to get large amounts of magnesium just from their drinking water.  Mountain spring water is naturally high in magnesium.  Unfortunately, many municipalities remove magnesium as part of their water treatment process.

If you want to see how much magnesium is in your drinking water, click here.  In general, the “harder” your water, the more magnesium you are getting.

Interestingly, drinking hard water may lower your risk of heart disease.  If you happen to live in a city with naturally hard water, you can get up to 30% of the magnesium you need each day from water.

Unfortunately, water softeners, water filters, reverse osmosis devices, and bottled water are generally all depleted of magnesium.  If you drink any of these magnesium depleted water types, you have to get 100% of your magnesium from food.

Magnesium in Our Food

Once upon a time, our soil contained much more magnesium.  Unfortunately, modern agriculture has stripped this essential mineral from the ground.  Processed foods are even worse when it comes to magnesium content.

Fortunately, organically grown produce has been shown to have up to 29% more magnesium.  To get enough magnesium in your diet, make sure you eat plenty of green leafy vegetables, especially spinach, nuts, seeds, and legumes every day.  To see a breakdown of which foods contain the most magnesium click here.

Can you get too much magnesium?

In general, it is very tough to get too much magnesium from your food and water unless you have kidney disease.  Certainly, it is possible to get too much magnesium if you are taking supplements.

How much magnesium do you need each day?

The recommended daily amount of magnesium varies depending on your gender and age. Assuming there are no problems with magnesium absorption, you need about 400 mg of magnesium each day. If you can get at least 400 mg of magnesium daily from your water and food, you can start to enjoy the health benefits of magnesium.

Magnesium in China’s Longevity Village

As you know, we have been studying the residents of China’s Longevity Village for many years.  We have found that these people do not suffer from magnesium deficiency symptoms.

The mountain spring water they drink is extremely hard and packed full of essential minerals.  Researchers suggest that these people get up to 50% of their magnesium just from the water.

Also, modern agriculture has yet to put a stake in the ground in this rural area of China.  Thus, the soil is extremely high in magnesium and other minerals.

Their diet, which is very high in vegetables, nuts, seeds, and beans, only further augments the magnesium they are getting every day.  We suspect that the magnesium in their food and water may be a major reason why heart disease is very uncommon, and people live to old ages free of chronic medical conditions.

To learn more about why China’s Longevity Village has the highest known concentration of centenarians in the world, please be sure to pick up a copy of our new book, The Longevity Plan.

How can you correct magnesium deficiency?

Let me give you five simple steps to correct magnesium deficiency.

1. Drink hard or mineral water.

2. Eat a heaping salad with spinach, nuts, seeds, and legumes daily. 

3. Embrace the stress in your life.

4. Talk with your doctor about magnesium supplements.

5. Talk with your doctor about medications that may be contributing to your magnesium deficiency like diuretics, acid reducing medications, or calcium supplements.

Practical Tips

As 89% of Americans are magnesium deficient, there is a high likelihood that you may be one of them. Fortunately, magnesium deficiency is easy to correct.

I know I used to be one of these people. Before my health transformation, I required Prilosec daily for acid reflux, ate the Standard American Diet, and was always stressed. These three things alone probably put me also into a state of magnesium deficiency.

Now, in addition to eating a diet very high in magnesium, I have found that taking a magnesium supplement before bed helps me to sleep. Indeed, medical studies show that magnesium supplementation is an effective treatment for insomnia.

If you suspect you may have a magnesium deficiency as well, correct anything that can be fixed to boost your magnesium stores. Also, speak with your physician about whether a magnesium supplement might be right for you.

If you enjoyed this article, please be sure to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and podcast. Also, to learn the secret to fantastic health at any age, please be sure to read our new book, The Longevity Plan.

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Could a recent study that hit worldwide news, provide enough evidence to overturn the long-held belief that a little alcohol is good for the heart?

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), one in ten deaths of working age adults in the U.S. results from alcohol consumption. Despite this fact, many in the medical community have been telling us for years that a little bit of alcohol is good for us as it prevents coronary heart disease (plaque build up in the arteries of the heart).

What are the effects of alcohol on the heart? Is there a link between alcohol and heart disease?

This recommendation to drink a little bit of alcohol did not come from high quality studies. This recommendation came from observational studies based on how much alcohol people said they drank. So many of us wanted to believe that this vice could actually be healthy for us, so few questioned if this was even true or not. This groundbreaking and scientifically rigorous study of 261,991 people hit worldwide news demonstrating that any alcohol may be hazardous to your heart health.

My Previous Alcohol Recommendations to Patients

For years I have struggled with this alcohol conundrum in counseling cardiac patients. On one hand, alcohol, especially red wine, appeared to be very effective in preventing plaque build up in the heart. This was the “heart” of the so-called “French Paradox” where supposedly their red wine protects their hearts from their high saturated fat diet.

On the other hand, I have personally seen, and the tragic data shows, that alcohol destroys many families, and causes liver failure and cancer. While alcohol was believed to prevent coronary heart disease, it is a known cause of heart failure and the most common cardiac arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation. I struggled as to how I could best counsel my patients on the subject of alcohol.

With regards to alcohol and heart disease, my conclusion at the time was to advise limiting alcohol to one drink daily, if they drank, preferably a red wine. This way we could potentially minimize any negative bad effects of alcohol on the heart.

If they did not drink, I never encouraged drinking to prevent coronary heart disease.  Lastly, if they suffered from heart failure or atrial fibrillation I recommended that they stop drinking.

I advised such based on the available data—it was all we had. I now advise differently, as the latest study provides new findings.

Any Alcohol is Dangerous to the Heart Study

This study is very important in that it is much more scientifically rigorous than previous studies. The data behind the alcohol recommendation to prevent coronary heart disease was based on observational studies. Observational studies have to be taken with a grain of salt because there are so many confounding factors which researchers cannot control.

Could observational study bias explain the alcohol protective dogma that the medical community has believed for so long? Do we need to worry about alcohol and heart disease?

In this study, first author Dr. Michael V. Holmes from the Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and colleagues took a different approach. Rather than just doing yet another observation study based on the subjective recall of how much alcohol everyone drank, they looked at whether or not people had the ADH1B gene.

The ADH1B gene codes for the alcohol dehydrogenase 1B enzyme which breaks down alcohol in the body. People with this enzyme rapidly metabolize alcohol which results in nausea, facial flushing, and not feeling well when they drink alcohol. As a result, most people with the ADH1B gene drink very little alcohol or they abstain altogether.

In this study, Dr. Holmes and his colleagues had the brilliant idea to look at the clinical outcomes of 261,991 people in this international study to see if this gene could predict clinical outcomes.

Interestingly, people who genetically cannot tolerate alcohol were less likely to:

• Be overweight
• Have high blood pressure
• Have significant levels of inflammation
• Have a heart attack
• Have a stroke

Overnight, this study has challenged the long-held dogma that alcohol might somehow be good for the heart. We now have a pretty good idea about the effects of alcohol on the heart.

Our Experience in China’s Longevity Village

This study supports our findings during our stay among the residents of China’s Longevity Village. Based on our research in China’s Longevity Village, which is a rural mountain village in Southwest China near the Vietnam border, most of these long-lived people completely abstain from alcohol. These people were historically water drinkers.

This abstinence is largely based on their extreme poverty and geographic isolation from China and the rest of the world. In fact, based on studies of these long-lived people, 64% of the people completely abstain from alcohol. Could this be one factor, among many, that contributed to their long lives and freedom from the chronic medical conditions from which so many of us here in the U.S. suffer? We delve into our findings in China’s Longevity Village, and their implications for our own lives here in the U.S., in our book scheduled for publication next year.

My New Alcohol Recommendations to My Patients

The results of the more than 260,000 people in this study demonstrate that alcohol does not have any protective effect to the heart. In my opinion, given the many tragic outcomes of alcohol consumption, the less alcohol we drink the better. For my patients who have developed any form of heart disease, I now encourage them to avoid or minimize alcohol consumption.

Not only is it this study, another mega study just came out in the July 22, 2014 issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology showing that any alcohol can be a significant cause of a dangerous heart rhythm abnormality called atrial fibrillation.

What do you think? Is this study strong enough to overturn the long held belief that alcohol is somehow protective for the heart? You can leave a comment by clicking here.