Weight-Loss Quick Fixes Slim Wallets

Summer bummer: The season's half over and you still can't fit into that bikini. Some super-savvy marketers of weight-loss products hope they've got your number.
Pills and diet plans promising to help shed pounds in days have made the weight-loss industry a more than $62-billion-a-year , up from about $38 billion 10 years ago, estimates Market Data. But most diet pills haven't been approved for safe weight loss by the Food and Drug Administration, and products often make unsubstantiated scientific claims, consumer experts say. Dietary supplements don't need to register with the FDA nor get approval before going on sale; the FDA only takes action if the product later proves to be unsafe.
Several companies, however, promise their products will help you slip into that little black dress. And consumers seem as eager as ever to reach deep into their wallets for a quick, easy fix.
The FDA -- which just approved two new diet pills this summer for the first time in 13 years, Qsymia and Belviq -- tries to warn consumers against dangerous products by updating its list of "tainted" weight-loss supplements, meaning it has identified hidden active ingredients, and the Federal Trade Commission looks for misleading and false advertising. But with the number of new products that hit markets, officials say they find it difficult to keep up.
"These products don't require any pre-approval, and the government lacks the resources to look at more than a handful of them," said the FTC's Richard Cleland. "One of the problems is consumers assume these products wouldn't be out in the marketplace unless the FDA or FTC had approved the product, and that's just not the case."
Some companies create fake news sites with reviews of their products that they can link to on their Web sites, Cleland said.
"The most dangerous thing is the consumer is going to think the is in the pill," Cleland said. "If there was a pill out there that was going to cure the weight-loss problem, we would have it."
Some of the latest fads:
Radiofrequency waves. LipoTron 3000, ringing in at up to $85,000, is a device that's part of the larger Lipo-Ex program and uses radiofrequency waves to target fat cells. It hasn't been approved by the FDA as a weight-loss product, but as a device for pain relief and increased circulation, said Mark Durante of Advanced Aesthetic Concepts, the distributor of the product. Three medical spas reached by USA TODAY, including Tampa's Signature Medical Spa, Chicago's Sculpt Medical Spa and New Jersey's Baxt CosMedical, said the device was a non-invasive alternative to liposuction.

Super supplements. Consumers are instructed to use HCG Platinum, or "bottled confidence," in conjunction with a diet consisting only of foods from a "healthy foods list." For 30 days, dieters eat mostly lean protein and vegetables and drink two 1 milliliter drops of the supplement, which is sold at about $130 for a two-month supply. Just last month, however, the FDA warned against over-the-counter HCG products and said it issued warning letters with the FTC to companies illegally marketing these products as weight-loss aids.
"Sprinkle" crystals. Sensa is a "sprinkle" diet that doesn't require any change in the foods you eat or ramped-up exercise routines. All you have to do is add the crystals on every dish -- as simply as you would salt and pepper, its Web site boasts, to enhance smell and taste so you feel full sooner. It also points to a six-month study that showed participants lost weight, but there haven't been any studies that determine long-term effects. Sensa sells a "complete" six-month package for $289.
"This is largely, if not entirely, a complete fraud," said physician Sidney Wolfe, director of the health research group at Public Citizen. "There's no scientific evidence." In an e-mailed statement, the company said, "Sensa works for people who use it on all the foods they eat. The system is simple, but you must do your part."
What does all this mean for those desperately seeking a solution? "Popping pills or taking something because it's aggressively marketed doesn't mean it's effective or safe," said Barbara Brooks, a senior partner of the Strategy Group. "A certain amount of onus is put on the consumer."

Fen Phen Diet Pills

Of all the numerous appetite suppressants accessible currently, we think that in a battle between fen-phen and phen375, phen375 comes out on top. To understand why, lets take a look at the historical past of these two powerful fat burners.
Fenfluramine
The pharmaceutical trade, having acknowledged the trend in shoppers trying new diet capsules, began experimenting with medicine to assist the obese in getting the thin bodies  they wanted. It was during this time that Fenfluramine was launched to the  market having been accepted by the US Food and Drug Administration to offer weight loss.
Fenfluramine was in a short time withdrawn from circulation when it was discovered  that this drug had many dangerous unwanted side effects like  damaging the heart valves and inflicting pulmonary hypertension, which is a life threatening disease,  in people who had taken the drug.
Fen Phen
When Fen-phen was launched in 1996 without FDA approval, it became an immediate top seller thanks to its very effective weight reduction results.
Although docs all over America prescribed the drug to their overweight patients, the hype was brief because when Fen-phen was found to  have dangerous side effects just like fenfluramine it was very quickly removed from stores.
Phen375
Then in February 2009,  a new capsule known as phen375 came on sale with full FDA approval and was quickly taken up as a safer version of the now banned Fen-Phen.
In response to the marketers of phen375, a lot of analysis has gone into this drug with medical research being carried out on all ingredients to make sure of safety.
The Verdict
Anyone who’s on the look out for a top fat burner tablet that additionally acts as an urge for food suppressant should consider the diet pill phen375.
This  drug is supposed to not just burn body fat but in addition helps you to stop over eating and snacking.
Phen375 has been made out of pharmaceutical substances that are considered to be safe, and have no detrimental unwanted side effects.
The days of Fen-Phen are gone, and it’s now not available to buy, but Phen375 is a safe, non prescription version that still provides superb weight loss results.

Diet Pills Side Effects

Although diet pills can be very helpful in some cases, you do need to know that some of them can come with side effects. There have been some in the past that had side effects that were actually life threatening. Losing weight is important but you definitely don’t want to damage your health while trying to do it. So, here is a look at diet pills side effects you need to know about before taking diet pills yourself.
Fat Deficiencies
Many of the diet pills out there are fat blockers. Well one of the side effects that these types of pills can have is causing fat deficiencies. Sure, it is important to limit the fat that you take in, especially when you want to lose weight. However, the body does need to have a certain amount of fat or it cannot function the way that it should. Absorption of fats is important to proper body function, so you want to avoid pills that totally block out all the fats or you may end up having a deficiency that can negatively affect your health.
Vitamin Deficiencies
In some cases since diet pills can block fats and carbs, vitamin deficiencies can occur as a side effect of taking these pills.
Some of the vitamins that you may miss out on when you take these pills include Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and Vitamin D. You may also miss out on the beta carotenes that you need. These vitamins are very important to your health so it is not a good thing to miss out on these vitamins. You may need to take a supplement of vitamins while you are taking diet pills in some cases.
Blood Pressure Increase
There are some diet pills that have stimulants in them. In some cases the pills can cause a blood pressure increase.
This is definitely a bad side effect for people who already have high blood pressure, those who are risk for strokes, and people that have heart problems. It is important that you try to avoid pills that are going to increase your blood pressure, since this can really be dangerous to your health.
Other Possible Side Effects
Of course there are a variety of other side effects that can occur. Some people deal with back pain, anorexia, dizziness, insomnia, and even acne. There have even been reports of heart failure, heart palpitations, rashes, depression, anxiety, joint problems, diarrhea, dry mouth, impotence, headaches, and more. In some cases people have become addicted to the diet pills they took, which can be very dangerous.

Taking diet pills can definitely help you to lose weight. However, you want to choose the best diet pills that are safe so that you avoid nasty side effects. Just be very careful when you choose these pills. The last thing you need is bad side effects as you try to lose weight.

Beyonce Wants ‘Chocolate’ Following 60-Pound Weight Loss

 LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption After sticking to a strict diet to lose baby weight following the January birth of Blue Ivy, who can blame Beyonce for wanting to indulge?

“Y’all have no idea how hard I worked!” the new mom told fans during her concert at Revel Beach’s Ovation Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night, via the Associated Press. “I had to lose 60 pounds. They had me on that treadmill. I ate lettuce!”

The “Run the World (Girls)” singer, 30, said she’s more than ready to ditch the produce for dessert.

“Now tonight I’m gonna get chocolate wasted!” she exclaimed.

Beyonce’s treadmill admission had to please a certain VIP in the audience – Michelle Obama (who has partnered with the singer in the past to inspire kids to exercise with her “Let’s Move!” campaign).

The First Lady enjoyed the concert with daughters Sasha and Malia, who happily danced in their seats to the music of Queen B, according to Us Weekly.

“They sat up in a private balcony with Gayle King. Michelle was jamming out to ‘Crazy in Love,’” a concertgoer told the mag. “When Beyonce told the crowd to get up and jump, [Malia and Sasha] stood and started dancing and jumping. They were shouting when Beyonce asked, ‘Do girls run the world?’

“Together, all three of them did the ‘Single Ladies’ dance moves,” the concertgoer added.

Nighttime fasting may foster weight loss

In an age of long commutes, late sports practices, endless workdays and 24/7 television programming, the image of Mom hanging up her dish towel at 7 p.m. and declaring "the kitchen is closed" seems a quaint relic of an earlier era.
It also harks back to a thinner America. And that may be no coincidence.
A new study, conducted on mice, hints at an unexpected contributor to the nation's epidemic of obesity — and, if later human studies bear it out, a possible way to have our cake and eat it too, with less risk of weight gain and the diseases that come with it.
Just eat your cake — or better yet, an apple — earlier. Then wait 16 hours, until breakfast the next morning, to eat again.
"We have to come up with something that is a simple alternative to calorie counting," said Satchidananda Panda, a regulatory biologist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla who led the study published online Thursday by the journal Cell Metabolism.
Panda and his team put groups of mice on different eating regimens for 100 days. Animals in two of the groups dined on high-fat, high-calorie chow. Half of them were allowed to eat whenever they wanted, and nibbled on and off throughout the night and day. The other mice had access to food only for eight hours at night, when they were most active.
In human terms, this would be rough: No ice cream while watching "Glee." No second glass of wine while talking things over with the spouse. Not even a late-night glass of warm milk.
The difference was astonishing. Even though they ate a high-fat diet, the mice who wrapped up their eating day early and were forced to fast for 16 hours were lean — almost as lean as mice in a control group who ate regular chow. But the mice who noshed on high-fat chow around the clock became obese, even though they consumed the same amount of fat and calories as their counterparts on the time-restricted diet.
Extra weight wasn't their only problem. The obese mice developed high cholesterol, high blood sugar, fatty liver disease and metabolic problems. The mice who ate fatty food but were forced to fast showed hardly any signs of inflammation or liver disease, and their cholesterol and blood sugar levels were virtually indistinguishable from those of mice who ate regular chow. When put on an exercise wheel, they showed the most endurance and the best motor control of all the animals in the study.
The data suggest that the stomach, the brain and the body's digestive machinery need to take a break from managing incoming fuel; otherwise, we may be working ourselves into a state of metabolic exhaustion. When combined with high-calorie, high-fat diets, the result is weight gain, a liver clogged with fat, accumulation of cholesterol in the arteries and unused glucose in the blood.
In the mice who fasted for 16 hours daily, measures of digestive hormones, cholesterol and glucose suggested that liver enzymes were working hard to break down cholesterol into bile acids. The body's stores of "brown fat," the stuff that converts extra calories into heat, were revved up, and the liver ceased production of glucose. As they burned fat, their body temperatures were actually higher, Panda said.
The results of daily fasting were "phenomenal," he said.
If only we were mice.
Leo Garcia, a 37-year-old auto mechanic whose adult years have been a steady march up the scale, said he was intrigued by the notion that he could lose some of his 250 pounds by wrapping up his mealtime early and resisting the urge to nibble. "It seems easier to do something like that than to join a gym and do cardio," he said.
But the study drew both exasperation and cautious interest from obesity researchers, who underscored that lab mice aren't tempted by fast-food restaurants with late-night specials and have no alternative to the menu and feeding schedule set by lab technicians. Being nocturnal, they also have different circadian clocks. The conclusion that humans could prevent or reverse obesity by wolfing down steak and chips for eight hours and then stopping for 16 would be premature and almost certainly dangerous, some said.
"I hope it's true, but I doubt it," said Barbara Corkey, director of obesity research at Boston University School of Medicine.
Barry M. Popkin, a nutrition expert at the University of North Carolina, said the study plies "uncharted territory" that needs exploration. A clinical trial published in 1992 suggested that eating frequent, small meals resulted in better insulin control and longevity.
"This one study cannot tell us that this science is wrong," Popkin said. "However, it is suggestive that scholars in the diabetes, obesity and other areas related to heart disease need to test this issue further in animals and humans."
Panda acknowledged that his research would need to be refined and tested in humans before it could be used to fight the war against obesity. The 16-hour fast that was so effective in preventing obesity in mice "may not be a magic number" for people, he said.
But extending the nighttime fast is a cheap and simple dietary adjustment that has no discernible side effects and doesn't require anyone to count calories or even deprive themselves — unless you just can't watch a playoff game without a beer or can't fall asleep without tea and honey.
All you need is a clock, said Panda, who noted that most after-dinner snacks are high in fat, sugar, salt and calories, and are best cut out anyway.
Research into the basic drivers of obesity — both social and biological — are under greater scrutiny than ever. Pharmacological help for the nation's 78 million obese adults and 12.5 million obese children has been elusive, as have the keys to behavior change for enduring weight loss.
Scientists acknowledge that obesity results from a complex mix of genetic and environmental factors, such as sedentary lifestyles, consumption of sweetened soft drinks, growing portion sizes and the increasing role of calorie-rich restaurant meals in American diets.
Panda thinks researchers may be overlooking the role that timing has on the body's response to food. In the agricultural lifestyle of an earlier time, Americans ate heartily but were thinner. They did chores, then had a big breakfast, followed by more physical activity, a hearty lunch, work and an early dinner. Soon after the sun set, it was time to sleep.
"Most people ate mostly in daytime," Panda said. Today, "our social life starts at sunset. Family time starts at the evening. So essentially, we have increased our eating time in the last 40 to 50 years."

Weight Loss Success: Tammy Garcia Ditched The Fad Diets And Lost Nearly 80 Pounds

Name: Tammy Garcia
Age: 29
Height: 5'5"
Before Weight: 204 pounds
How I Gained It: I was never really a thin person, but I grew up doing ballet and other various forms of dance since I was 3 years old, so I was a healthy size up until I graduated from high school. At that point, I quit dancing, started college and I let the freshman 15 get to me. But it didn't stop there. I kept gaining weight through my time in college, and graduated at about 155 pounds. Once I graduated from undergrad, I moved away from home. That was the first time I was required to do all my own shopping and cooking, and it did not go well. Have you ever noticed that the foods on sale are the unhealthy ones? Chips, sugary cereals, cookies, bagels -- I got caught in that trap. I got caught in the "I'm too busy to cook between work during the day and school at night, so I'll just have fast food" mentality.
After four years of eating unhealthy and focusing more on work and grad school studies than on making sure I was healthy, I had allowed myself to get to over 200 pounds. Only once did I even try to lose weight. In 2009, when I couldn't fit into a bridesmaid dress I had just ordered about two months before, I knew I needed to do something about it. I tried a fad diet plan I was recommended. It worked in the short term, and I lost almost 30 pounds and ended up having the dress taken in for the wedding. But then I moved to a small, backwoods town. I stopped the fad diet, and I allowed those excuses to be in charge again. It was back to fast food and making excuses that it was "too hard" to find the healthy foods in a small southern town that didn't believe in eating healthy. So that weight came right back on in a matter of a few months.
Breaking Point: My breaking point came in August of 2010 when it was time for me to buy some new pants. My work pants were old and they were getting kind of tight so I went shopping for some new ones. But I couldn't fit into a size 14, and I struggled to fit in a size 16. I refused to buy pants that were a size 16 or bigger. It would have been the biggest size I would have ever bought and I just couldn't allow myself to do it. I had simply had enough of being big. I had enough of being unhealthy. I wanted something better for myself. I knew that I had lost weight before, so I was sure I could do it again.
How I Lost It: I had family coming into town in about two months and so I created an eight-week challenge for myself. It was "Operation Make Pants Not Fit in a Good Way in Eight Weeks." I realized this time that I didn't want a gimmicky fad diet. I wanted something that I would be able to maintain for the rest of my life. I wanted to really learn how to live healthy instead of relying on some sort of pre-packaged nonsense that wouldn't really teach me how to eat in the real world.
I knew the best way to do that would be to cut out fast food, cook healthy meals at home and start exercising. I went to the bookstore to buy some healthy food cookbooks, hit Amazon.com to buy some workout videos and the sporting goods store for some exercise clothing. I joined the site Livestrong.com to track my calories and joined a group challenge.

At first, I only did cardio (I didn't have a gym membership, I had my workout videos and an elliptical machine at home, but no weights). By the time my family came into town, I was able to buy a size 12 pair of pants, and I had lost around 20 pounds. I was proud, but I knew there was a long way to go. So I kept at it, adding in weight training with a nice little set of weights my husband bought for me and learning how to make more and more healthy meals using fresh ingredients. Now, I sit down with my husband every Sunday and we plan out our meals for the week, and then hit the grocery store together. When we plan vacations, we make them active vacations where we can go hiking in the mountains, for example. It makes it so much easier being in this new lifestyle journey together.
I've been maintaining my current weight for almost a year now, but I've worked on getting stronger. I'm always challenging myself to lift more weight or go one more rep when I'm weight training. I've done the Insanity program and I throw in those workouts on my cardio days and it's still a challenge. I'm always pushing myself to go further, harder and longer.
The biggest realization I've had, and why I've been able to maintain this time around, is that I've realized there is no "easy" way to lose weight. There's no magic pill, no magic "diet," nothing like that. It's a matter of working out, staying active and eating healthy. It really is a lifestyle, not something you do for a little bit and then go back to what you were doing before. It is simple, but it takes dedication and commitment to make the changes that are necessary. It takes time and effort. But the rewards are more than worth it. I've gone from not being able to fit into a size 14 to wearing a size 0 or 2. I am happier, more positive, less sick, in pain less and I just feel better all around.
After Weight: 127 pounds

100 Million Dieters, $20 Billion: The Weight-Loss Industry by the Numbers

Getty Images

When you're trying to lose weight, the number that seems to matter most is the one you see on the scale. But there are plenty of other compelling numbers coming out of the growing weight-loss industry. Check out a few below and watch the full story on "Losing It: The Big Fat Money Pit" on "20/20," Friday at 10 p.m. ET.

$20 Billion

The annual revenue of the U.S. weight-loss industry, including diet books, diet drugs and weight-loss surgeries.

108 Million

The number of people on diets in the United States. Dieters typically make four to five attempts per year.

85 Percent

The percentage of customers consuming weight-loss products and services who are female.

1 Hour

The amount of time spent on daily exercise by people who lost and kept off at least 30 pounds of excess weight for five years.

220,000

The number of people with morbid obesity in the United States who had bariatric surgery in 2009.

$11,500 to $26,000

The average cost of bariatric surgery, which reduces the size of the stomach.

$500,000 to $3 Million

The average salaries paid to celebrity endorsers of major weight-loss programs.

$33,000

The amount of money celebrity endorsers, on average, earn per pound lost.

$5,594

Cost for a week-long (six night) weight-loss program at Beau Rivage Palace, a luxury hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland. The program includes massages and personal training sessions and discourages deprivation.

2

The number of glasses of wine per day allowed to guests of the Beau Rivage Palace weight-loss program.
Sources: John LaRosa of MarketData; National Weight Control Registry; American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery; Jo Piazza, author of "Celebrity Inc.: How Famous People Make Money.

Diet Doc hCG Diet & Weight Loss Introduces Lowest Priced hCG Diet in USA

Stacey showing off her amazing weight loss on Diet Doc!

Diet Doc hCG Diet & Weight Loss is the only modern-day diet that is less money than most over-the-counter diets and is capable of shaving 25-30 pounds per month!

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) May 07, 2012

Diet Doc hCG Diet & Weight Loss recently conducted a survey of other leading hCG diet clinics across the USA and found that Diet Doc is the lowest priced (prescription), medical, weight loss program in the USA!
Diet Doc hCG Diet provides medically, supervised weight loss nationwide and is the only modern-day hCG diet in the USA capable of shaving 30 pounds per month reports Julie Wright, president of Diet Doc.
Many doctors only offer the original 1950's Dr. Simeons HCG diet which promises dieters they will lose 1 pound per day if they consume 500 calories per day while taking injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (hcg), a human hormone made by chorionic cells in the fetal part of the placenta during pregnancy reports Wright.
The reason other doctors are offering an extremely outdated version of the hCG diet is because there is no where to obtain this specialized training unless the doctor spends a few years studying the original hCG diet protocol and updating to present day medical knowledge on how hormones interact with weight gain and weight loss.
Diet Doc is an all-inclusive weight loss program which offers a specially formulated weight loss shake that helps burn fat and reduce cravings for carbohydrates. The shake is consumed 4x/day along with eating food purchased from the grocery store (unlimited vegetables, chicken/lean beef or fish and fruit). Diet Doc also formulated a weight loss oil which is flavorless, but used to make salad dressing and for cooking. The oil burns fat within 30 minutes of consuming reports Wright. Dieters receive one month of shake, weight loss oil, unlimited doctor and weight loss nurse consultations/support, and one month of injection or tablet (both are prescription) hCG and are given a large cookbook and doctor written weight loss workbook on the Diet Doc hCG Diet Program.
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*These weight reduction treatments include oral hCG or an injection of hCG–a drug, which has not been approved by the food and drug administration as safe and effective in the treatment of obesity or weight control. There is no substantial evidence that hCG increases weight loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction, that it causes a more attractive or "normal" distribution of fat, or that it decreases the hunger and discomfort associated with calorie-restrictive diets. Results may vary and cannot be guaranteed. Medical supervision and compliance with our program is required.

Manchester Chiropractor Provides Ideal Protein Weight Loss Program

MANCHESTER, Mo., May 6, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Manchester chiropractor Dr. Brad Mawer, of Morningstar Spinal Correction Center, now provides the Ideal Protein weight loss program to his patients. According to Dr. Mawer, he decided to start offering the diet and nutrition program because of all the research pointing toward obesity as a major factor in a long list of diseases and painful conditions. Dr. Mawer's center provides nutritional counseling, support and an assortment of the program's gourmet food products. After researching various nutrition programs, he felt this protein program effectively addressed the metabolic processes behind obesity in order to help people lose weight over the long term.

Dr. Mawer says that the Ideal Protein program has helped many of his Manchester weight loss patients reach their goals. "This program is working for my patients because it isn't just another diet; it was medically developed to address metabolic disorders common in the Western Hemisphere from the overabundance of refined carbs in our diets. Dr. Tran Tien Chanh developed this program over 25 years ago and it's still going strong, helping people burn excess fat while maintaining the muscle mass critical to maintaining a healthy body structure." Dr. Mawer says that even patients who had struggled to lose weight for years are finally losing weight and keeping it off on this program.

Dr. Mawer says that helping people lose weight is one of his major goals. He cites a growing library of scientific literature demonstrating how obesity worsens everything from diabetes and heart disease to arthritis and back pain. He explains that he sees obesity's negative effects in patients almost daily. He says that excess weight puts stress on a person's posture, causing the spine to shift out of alignment, which then leads to pinched nerves in the spine. He provides spinal adjustments to correct the misalignment, but until the weight comes off, the extra weight threatens to keep stressing the spine. The key, he says, is to help the patient lose weight.

According to Dr. Mawer, people who want to lose weight are often more successful on a medical program with doctor supervision. He says that because each of his patients undergoes a complete exam and nutritional counseling before beginning the diet, they know what they need to do to succeed. The extra support from the doctor and the gourmet foods also provide the incentive they need to stay focused on their goals.

Dr. Mawer says that helping people feel better about themselves and their health is the biggest benefit of the nutritional counseling program. "True health is a state of body and mind. When people experience how much better they feel physically and mentally after losing weight, they want to stick with it. Their risk factors for disease, their pain levels; all of those things decrease and they feel energized. I love seeing that."

Dr. Mawer has been practicing in Missouri for the past 8 years. His website is located at http://www.morningstarscc.com .

Women Who Lost Over 100 Pounds Reveal Clever Weight-Loss Tricks That Actually Worked

Today show nutrition expert, Joy Bauer, has come out with a new book, The Joy Fit Club: Cookbook, Diet Plan & Inspiration, where she profiles 30 formerly obese people who have each lost over 100 pounds and transformed their lives. In the book, these “biggest losers” share some of their best and most clever tricks that they used to shed so many pounds–and we gotta say, some of them are quite ingenious. Here are a few that may help you, too:
Trick #1: Pull out a bag of tricks (Our favorite)
Kim, who lost 110 pounds, fights off cravings for junk food with a bag that is filled with cards listing fun, motivational activities. This includes everything “read a book” and “treat myself to a manicure” to “call a friend” and “exercise for 10 minutes.” The deal is, when an urge for cookies or candy strikes, Kim has to finish the activity she randomly selected. By the time she’s done, her desire to eat has usually passed.
At first glance, this “bag of tricks” may sound corny, but it’s actually a great idea. Most cravings for junk food are emotional (you’re bored, tired, angry, etc.) and will pass if you divert your attention to something more positive. The key here is to hold yourself accountable for actually doing the activity you select.
Trick #2: Exercise during commercials
Simply getting off the couch during every commercial break helped Sheri drop 141 pounds and become half of her former self. When watching TV, she made a deal with herself to get up during each commercial break and squeeze in some crunches, squats, lunges or even some time just walking in place. This could add up to burning 100 calories during an hour-long program–and if you watch an average of two hours of TV a day, that could mean an extra 1,400 calories a week.
This two-minute break also works well for push-ups and jump roping. Who cares what the neighbors think! Leave your blinds open and maybe you can motivate them too.
Trick #3: Create slim-downed versions of your favorite foods.
Who says that pizza is a no-no when you’re trying to lose weight? One woman who lost a whopping 300 pounds says she created a healthier version simply by using a whole-grain tortilla or flatbread for the base and then topping it with low-fat cheese and tons of fresh veggies.
Another woman who lost 109 pounds jazzed up her salads with a healthy, homemade dressing that was low in fat and calories. She uses flavored vinegar (like raspberry) and goes light on the oil to trim even more calories. She also adds nonfat plain Greek yogurt to the vinaigrette for a creamier version that helps to keep her satisfied longer.
These examples just go to show that weight loss is still all about diet and exercise–and some fun, creative tricks to keep things interesting.

The Key To Permanent Weight Loss Could Be Detox Diets—But Not The Kind You Think

 

What if the secret to weight loss wasn’t really a secret at all? According to Christine Gerbstadt, author of Doctor’s Detox Diet, The Ultimate Weight Loss Prescription, everything we need to slim down is right in front of us–no special fasting diets, lemonade drinks or meal replacement bars. Instead, she says the key is to choose whole foods that work together to support our organs. Specifically our liver, kidneys, skin, intestines and lymphatics. When we optimize these organs through our diet choices, they remove more toxins and waste, fight inflammation, and speed-up metabolism to burn existing fat and keep it off.
To find out more about how to best support permanent weight loss, we talked with Gerbstadt who says that it starts–and continues–with a good detox.
What exactly is detoxing and cleansing? Are they two different things?
The scientific definition of detox is not the way we use it. The technical term really just means to remove drugs or alcohol or other toxic substances from the body. Or it can mean emptying the colon for a procedure like a colonoscopy. But the way we use it now is really just removing the body of impurities. We’re not going to remove things like mercury because that gets into our bones, but we can remove things like cholesterol, fat and refined sugar. It’s basically removing impurities from our diet and from our bodies. Cleansing is the same, but people think about cleaning up their lifestyle a lot more than just what you eat or drink here. Cleansing can include adding exercise, avoiding pollution, avoiding UV rays, etc.
So is a detox diet a short-term diet or a long-term lifestyle?
The detox diets that have become popular with celebrities where you can drop 10 pounds in 10 days are focused on starvation, restriction, fasts and eliminating almost everything from your diet. Those kinds of diets are nothing more than fad diets and definitely only work in the short term. In fact, with those you only lose water weight because it takes three weeks to start losing fat. Eating a detox diet needs to be an on-going long-term, lifestyle commitment. You don’t just do it once a month or once a year and then eat whatever you want the rest of the time, thinking that a few days of fasting is going to clean you out. You’ll still have high cholesterol, diabetes and excess pounds.
So what do you recommend eating during a detox diet?
It’s using mostly whole foods and focusing on foods in their natural states, like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, beans, etc. People can choose to be vegetarian or not, and if they don’t eat meat, that means including more legumes. Basically, eating a detox diet means you’re eating healthy diet most of the time to support your organs, release impurities and keep them out of your body.
How is your detox diet different than other whole foods diets?
The focus of mine is on the five detox organs–your skin, intestines, kidney, liver and lymphatic system. You need to make a meal plan that is going to include foods to support each organ system. For example, I recommend a lot of herbs and spices because they are really potent sources of nutrients that help to support the organs; basil is really good for your kidneys and liver. Once you start eating more whole foods, they become very familiar and you start including this variety into your everyday diet and not wanting the processed foods anymore.
So when you say a detox diet, you basically mean a detox lifestyle, right?
Yes, this is an ongoing way of eating. Not a short-term fix.
How does this detox lifestyle help you lose weight?

When you get all of these organs to work, your metabolism will be at its peak and that’s where the weight loss comes in. You’re not keeping food or fat that your body doesn’t need. I recommend about 1,600 calories a day for a woman to keep your metabolism up, depending on the amount of physical activity each day. Most people should be able to maintain or lose weight based on that.
Weight loss is going to be the result of a calorie deficiency or activity increase. The reason a detox diet is better is because you are eating to support all of your organ systems to maintain your body at its best. Even if you ate these same calories with fast food, you may still lose weight, but you’re not going to be as healthy and your organs are not going to be working as well.
How much weight can people typically lose here?
You can lose 100 pounds, but it might take 18 months. I had one client who lost 37 pounds in 17 weeks, so a little over two pounds a week. She went from eating 2-3 fast food meals and 4-6 sodas a day with no physical activity, to eating like this–more fruits, vegetables, beans, etc. and started walking 5 days a week for 25 minutes. She was very dedicated and the results were very important to her. The type of foods changed, the calories came down a little and she started exercising. In general, if people eat a whole foods diet, they can expect to lose about one pound a week on average.
Is a lot of that just water weight at first?
That’s a great question. The first week can be the biggest weight loss and it can include the extra fluid you’re holding on to. Even if you just start with little changes to your diet like eating “real” foods versus other traditional meal replacement foods, you’re probably going to notice a difference and get mentally prepared for a new lifestyle of eating.
Can this type of diet work for anyone who wants to lose weight?
It really can work for anybody. If you have diabetes or a serious medical condition, you may need to modify and get a registered dietician to help you out. But eating this way can help stabilize your blood sugar and blood pressure. I have had clients go off their diabetic medications after starting to eat like this and maintaining this lifestyle.
What’s your biggest no-no for food?
Salt. When I go into a client’s home, I hide the salt shaker. That whole bloating and puffiness that people feel when they want to loosen their belts after a meal can be alleviated by taking away the salt and using herbs and spices instead. This is one of the best things you can do.
What is your number one go-to food for weight-loss?
That would definitely be raw vegetables, especially dark leafy greens. They have fiber, water, crunch and you can do a lot with them. You can eat them alone or add them into a recipe. So instead of just having a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread, it’s so much more fun to that turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with baby spinach, arugula and other vegetables added in. It looks a lot prettier and has a lot more nutrients like vitamin C and A. Most people aren’t getting enough vegetables in their diet each day so adding more raw vegetables this way is an easy way to do it.

Stunning Advancements in Weight Loss Surgery

LOS ANGELES, April 24, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Bariatric surgery is not just about losing weight. The most advanced procedures available today, from gastric sleeve surgery to gastric bypass and the Lap Band, offer dramatic weight loss results, but another benefit that gets less attention is the potential effect on certain co-morbidities like hypertension and diabetes. Certain procedures have been shown to have a strong impact on these health conditions, in many cases even causing complete remission, and eliminating the need for medication. In other words, bariatric surgery offers more than a marked improvement in your quality of life; it can literally save your life.
At Dr. Feiz & Associates, a leading surgical center for weight loss in Los Angeles, experienced medical practitioners like Dr. Michael Feiz have been observing the effects of bariatric surgery on these co-morbidities for years. Those professional observations have now also been borne out by recent studies. Dr. Feiz has earned a particularly strong and widespread reputation because he is one of a very few surgeons qualified to employ what is called the STARR Treatment. With this specialized technique, he is able to perform procedures like sleeve gastrectomy and the Lap Band in Beverly Hills with ONLY A SINGLE INCISION. Also known as micro sleeve surgery and micro Lap Band surgery, respectively, these state-of-the-art operations offer a faster recovery, less post-operative discomfort, and virtually no scarring (usually patients are left with a scar no larger in diameter than a freckle or a grain of rice).
The implications of the STARR Treatment are staggering. Today, top physicians like Dr. Feiz are making surgical weight loss less invasive and safer than ever before. At the same time, Dr. Feiz is a responsible doctor who cautions prospective patients that these procedures do not represent a silver bullet. Patients must be committed to continued weight loss after the surgery, with healthy diet and exercise. Fortunately, the team at Dr. Feiz & Associates stays involved long after the operation is over, working with patients to shed more weight and keep off those pounds.
To learn more about Dr. Feiz & Associates, and the various procedures they offer – including sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, and the Lap Band in Beverly Hills – visit online at www.drfeiz.com.
PR submitted by www.Cyberset.com
SOURCE Dr. Feiz & Associates

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/24/4439595/stunning-advancements-in-weight.html#storylink=cpy

The four key words for Permanent Weight Loss

Posted on 24. Apr, 2012 by Libby in Health

Weight loss occurs in the body but weight loss begins in the brains. You will never achieve permanent weight loss if the will is not there. This is the reason that worldwide billions are spent on the physical side to lose weight, but still more and more adults and children suffer from obesity .
Achieving and maintaining your goal weight is also a mental thing. You can spend money on diets and gyms if you want, but you will not have a permanent weight loss achieved if you do not mentally have the right attitude to lose weight and keep weight.
The four key words for Permanent Weight Loss:
Planning
Losing weight is not something that just happens. You must plan in advance every part of your way to lose weight. Find the ways you want to lose weight that best suit you like the choice of healthy food, how you want to move, etc. Make a clear plan of how you spend your goal weight to reach this weight and want to keep. Once you have a clear plan, do your utmost to carry out this planning.
Patience
Remember that it has lasted a long time before you have come to your current weight. Expect certainly not that quickly your goal weight you will also achieve and maintain. By your lifestyle drastically change you lose weight fairly quickly but chances are that you do not keep going for long. To change your lifestyle will take a little longer before you will reach your goal weight but this way is far more likely that you do this target weight remains.
Perseverance
You’re a man and no man is perfect. If you want to lose weight then you will also go through trial and error. Be aware of this and accept this too. This will take you less difficult in the difficult periods. With the right attitude and perseverance, you will lose weight and your weight control.
Positive thinking
If you’re not 100% believe in order to reach your goal weight and maintain, you will never achieve this. Simple as that. You must be optimistic to achieve your goal. If you think positive and believe in yourself you can really achieve and maintain your goal weight.

Website Places Healthy Wager On Weight Loss

If you're planning on losing weight, you can finally put your money where your mouth is. NY1's Kafi Drexel filed the following report.Judging by the footage, it's pretty clear the likes of Mike Sisco, Will "The Champ" Millender, and Joel "The Cannon" Podelsky are forces to be reckoned with in the world of competitive eating.
"I've done 10 latkes in a minute. I've done 10 hard boiled eggs in a minute. I did Jamaican beef patties I've done eight of them in four-and-a-half minutes," says Podelsky.

"Fifty-seven dumplings in two minutes. Fifty-one mac and cheese balls in eight minutes. Sixteen slices of pizza in 12 minutes," says Millender.
But weighing in at more than 250 to to 400 pounds each, the non-stop eating was seeping into their daily lives. So now the main record they are trying to break is who can lose the most weight through the new online site, dietbet.com.
Dietbet.com gives groups the chance to compete to lose weight. Whoever participates can decide how much everyone bets. Whoever loses four percent of their body weight within a month splits the winnings.

"For most people it evens out to about two pounds a week. We think that is a healthy amount of weight to be losing each week. There's no advantage to losing more than that," says Dietbet.com Vice President of Strategic Alliances Tina Basle.
So if you've got money on the line are you more likely to meet your goals? For that, NY1 checked in with registered dietician and new author of "Slim, Calm, Sexy Diet" Kerri Glassman, to see if it is worth the wager.
"This website gives people accountability," Glassman says. "It gives them support and also there's the real hard-core goal of it all, the competition aspect. And the goal is actually pretty reasonable."
Gender may also play a role. Another website, HealthyWage.com, which pays people to lose weight found men are four times more successful than women at weight loss when cash is at stake.
In all, the pro-eaters competing on dietbet.com lost 79 pounds and walked away with about $200 in winnings each. They plan to keep the challenge going by upping the ante instead of their waistlines

Weight loss: Melt the pounds away

Summer is the best time to shed weight. LAYOUT & DESIGN: SAMRA AAMIR FAIZAN DAWOOD

Summer is here and while we don’t have the pressure of squirming into our last year’s two-piece, we do want to look good for all those summer parties and beach fiestas coming up. Many experts believe that the hot season is best to shed some extra pounds and go from flab to fab because everyone is in an ‘out and about’ mood in summer, unlike winters, when all one wants to do is snuggle up on a family couch, watch television show reruns and snack on roasted dry fruits and hot chocolate.

According to webmd.com, the single easiest way to trim calories from your summer diet is to load up on nature’s bounty. And this is easy as produce is at its peak in summer. Besides being low in calories, fresh fruits and vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre, which act as appetite killing agents for our body. 
Drink wisely
Hot water is advised when a person is following a weight loss regime. The intake of hot water helps in smooth functioning of the digestive system, but it does not have a direct connection with weight loss, points out dieticians.
Slow metabolism is also the cause of excess weight gain. To speed up the weight loss process one should also try to speed up one’s metabolism. Hot water with honey and lemon maintains the metabolic cycle and removes toxins from the body which indirectly helps in weight loss.
Also, a fibre diet is advised for obese people because excessive intake of fibre activates the metabolism and doesn’t allow food to stay in the body for too long. Isabgol with a glass of water before dinner not only helps in reducing weight but also reduces the blood sugar levels and is advisable for heart patients,” states Dr Qadir.
Fruit juices are a big no-no for a weight loss regime. The reason why people believe fruit juice is bad is because it contains sugar. Fruit juice is naturally sweet due to fructose or fruit sugar, meaning that it’s naturally occurring sugar (not added sugars), but it still adds to your daily calorie total.
Smooth sleep pattern helps lose weight
In a recent study, 10 overweight volunteers went on a diet while sleeping an average of eight-and-a-half hours a night for two weeks and just five-and-a-half hours per night for another couple of weeks. It was noted that these volunteers lost more weight during the initial weeks of their diet, reports allure.com. Dr Abbas, however, says that there is a limit to which one can sleep and seven to eight hours of sleep is required for the effective functioning of the human body.”
Eat five times a day
The first basic step to lose weight is to break meals into various categories — early morning breakfast, breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, evening snack and dinner
“Having fruits is essential, but one should avoid banana and mango as they are high on sugar content and on calories,” says nutritionist Dr Ayesha Abbas. It is better to go for watermelons, melons and sweet lime. One should either have fruits 40 minutes before a meal or two hours after a meal.
“Skimmed milk, whole grain cereals, whole pulses, green leafy vegetables and salads should be included in one’s summer diet. Also, it’s a misconception that chicken or fish heat up the body temperature. Grilled or steamed fish is ideal for speedy weight loss as it is fulfilling and its mineral content covers up for the salts lost due to excessive sweating,” says nutritionist and physicist Dr Murad Qadir.
Tips that can help you lose weight
Wear tight clothes — Just the thought that overeating will make your pouch become apparent and remind you to eat less
Choose red sauces over creamier, white sauces
Use a smaller plate so that you automatically eat less
Don’t use the back of your chair — sitting up straight burns more calories than slouching
An apple before dinner helps kill your appetite and will make you eat less
(with Additional information from angelawilson.suite101.com)
Great low calorie summer food staples
Yogurt
Beans
Fish
Lemon
Cabbage
Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2012.

The Get Lean Diet: Baby Steps To Healthy Weight Loss

The countdown to Memorial Day has begun. With just a month to get their beach bodies back, many resort to strict calorie-cutting, cleanses or bizarre fad diets. But usually participants are hungry, miserable and unsuccessful.
Wellness expert Kathy Freston, bestselling author of Veganist and Quantum Wellness, offers an easier way to tackle weight loss and keep the pounds off for good. New book The Lean: A Revolutionary (and Simple!) 30-Day Plan for Healthy, Lasting Weight-Loss helps readers lean into weight loss with one small step a day for 30 days. If followed, she promises a permanent weight loss of 1 to 3 pounds a week, plus  and improved digestion.

“When we dive head first into a really disciplined diet, we’re miserable and we’re not going to stick with it,” says Freston. “But when we lean into really good, healthy eating habits, we’ll be successful with our weight loss because we’re going to feel fulfilled and happy and enjoy the foods we grew up loving.”
Unlike other diet plans, Freston does not focus on prohibited foods. She suggests that you “crowd out” instead of “cut out” by adding things into your daily routine. Little by little, you’ve added in so many healthy food habits there’s no room for the bad stuff because you’re so full. Here are some of Freston’s easiest and most effective tips to lose weight quickly and sustainably.
Drink Water Before Meals
Drinking lots of water, at least eight 8-ounce glasses a day, is one of the simplest and best things you can do for your body, says Freston. Staying hydrated boosts your metabolism, and drinking water before meals helps you eat less. “It’s called preloading, and it literally fills up your stomach so you can’t put as much in,” she says. In one study, participants who drank two cups of water before eating lost an average five pounds more fat than those who did not.
Eat An Apple Every Day
Keep the doctor away, and get into your skinny jeans. Freston says eating an apple every day will make you healthier and leaner. Apples have a fiber called pectin that slows down the process of digesting food by twice as much. “You’ll feel fuller that much longer, and it releases blood sugar into your system slowly and stably.” Next time you reach for a snack or dessert, make it an apple.
Add Flaxseed
Freston says one of the easiest things you can do to speed weight loss is to add two tablespoons of flaxseed into your daily regimen by sprinkling it into your morning oatmeal, adding it into a smoothie or mixing it into a salad. Flaxseed are low in carbohydrates and high in B vitamins, Omega-3 fatty acids and fiber, which fills you up faster and keeps you sated longer. You can buy flaxseed in the health food section of the grocery store or a specialty store like GNC, and it should last for six weeks in the refrigerator.
 
Change Up Your Milk
“Think about this,” says Freston. “Dairy milk comes from a lactating cow, meant to feed her baby calf so that it puts on a thousand pounds really quickly and becomes fat, docile and slow. We don’t want to become fat, docile and slow.” She also says that drinking a low or non-fat milk strips the fat and leaves mostly lactose, which is a sugar. The best route is to switch out dairy milk for a non-dairy alternative, she says, like soy, hemp, almond or rice milk.
Find A Plant-Based Alternative
“Food is such a strong symbol of tradition and community,” says Freston. Instead of giving up the “bad” things that you love, she suggests finding a healthier alternative. One solution is to swap out an animal-based product with a plant-based product. So if you love hamburgers, have a veggie burger. If you’re craving a taco, make one filled with black beans rather than chicken. Great sources of plant-based protein are seitan, tempeh, beans, lentils and tofu.
Schedule Your Daily Diet
Just as you would schedule your workday with clearly defined meeting times, goals and to-do lists, Freston advises scheduling your eating and exercise habits to help hold yourself accountable. It might look like:
6:30 — Wake up, drink water
7:00 — Eat oatmeal with flaxseed, drink coffee with almond milk
8:30 — Drink water
10:00 — Have an apple, drink water
As you move through the day, you’ll be organized, on track and feel accomplished as you check things off your list.
Stop For Five Minutes
One key element of weight loss that many people overlook is how important it is to think beyond just what you’re putting in your mouth. “We are emotional beings,” says Freston. “So if we don’t tweak the way we think about and approach the food, we’re not going to be successful.” She recommends stopping for five minutes a day, closing your eyes and reviewing your mental and physical state of being. Then when you have a plate of food in front of you, you’ll be less likely to over-eat as a way of self-soothing because you’ve taken a moment to register how you’re feeling and why.

Weight Loss Surgery is Effective in Controlling Diabetes

As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 12 Americans suffer from diabetes and by 2050, it is expected that 25% of the nation’s population will be suffering from it.
CDC officials were of the view that there are many reasons which make a person diabetic, and one of the main reasons is obesity. It has been found that 90 to 95% of obese people suffer from diabetes. The CDC’s new report, which has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, has raised concerns among the authorities concerned.
The report has also talked about weight-loss surgery, which is quite in trend these days. It is said that weight loss surgery is the most effective way to stay protected from diabetes. Two clinical trials have taken place, and both the trials have revealed that volunteers were able to leave diabetes medication after a few days of the surgery.
"In our opinion, 80 percent diabetes resolution is a dramatically excellent result, compared with results of a medical approach in which there's not diabetes resolution”, said Dr. Nicola Basso, who is a Professor of surgery at the University of Rome and was involved in both the clinical trials.

Nutrition Counseling Deemed Critical for Weight Loss and Back Pain Relief

FENTON, MO, Apr 17, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Fenton chiropractor Dr. Margaret Freihaut, who owns and operates Fenton Family Chiropractic, reports there is a strong link between nutrition counseling for weight loss and reduced back pain. Freihaut designs nutritionally-based weight loss plans for many overweight patients. She explains that while some patients need to lose weight to fine-tune their overall wellness situation, she also helps patients struggling with severe obesity. She often recommends the hCG weight loss program for these patients. She says that the vast majority of patients who lose weight on her nutritional plans report improved health and pain relief for many of the conditions they previously suffered.

According to Dr. Freihaut, nutrition is critical for wellness and weight loss. "Combating obesity is one of the most critical health goals for doctors and patients today, and nutritional counseling and exercise counseling are central to that goal. We've known for a long time that being overweight exacerbates conditions like heart disease, diabetes, headaches, arthritis, back pain, and other illnesses, most of which are preventable." Dr. Freihaut provides personalized nutritional counseling along with chiropractic care to patients throughout Fenton, High Ridge, Valley Park, House Springs, Sunset Hills, Cedar Hill, and Arnold.

Dr. Freihaut cites a recent study by the Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York, which established a strong link between obesity and pain. While the exact mechanisms causing increased pain in obese people are still under investigation, the relationship between increased Body Mass Index (BMI) and pain were clear: People with BMIs from 30 to 34 reported 68 percent more pain than people with a normal BMI; people with BMIs from 35 to 39 reported 136 percent more pain; those struggling with a BMI over 40 complained of 245 percent more pain. Dr. Freihaut says that medical science shows that excess weight leads to poor posture, which pulls the musculoskeletal system out of alignment. This leads to pinched nerves, which can lead to more pain throughout the body.

According to Dr. Freihaut people lose weight better when they follow an individualized plan because not everybody responds well to the same type of nutritional program. She provides each patient a thorough exam first and then designs a plan specifically for them. She frequently recommends the hCG weight loss plan for severely obese patients because it takes weight off quickly through the use of low-dose pregnancy hormones and a low-calorie diet. Dr. Freihaut says the goal with all of her nutritional plans, including the hCG weight loss plan, is to help patients achieve a healthy weight and maintain it long term for optimal wellness.

Dr. Freihaut stresses how important it is to achieve a healthy weight: "Weight loss isn't just about looking good anymore; it's about staying alive and achieving a healthy quality of life that feels great."

Dr. Margaret Freihaut has been practicing in Fenton, MO since 1984 and has twice won the Doctor of the Year for Missouri Chiropractic Association Award. Her website is located at http://drfreihaut.com .

Weight Loss Surgery Could Be An Effective Diabetes Treatment

4/17/2012 3:52 PM ET
(RTTNews) - Researchers from the Day Hospital of Metabolic Diseases and Diabetology of the Catholic University in Rome have discovered that Bariatric weight loss surgery could serve as an effect treatment for type 2 diabetes.
In a study report published last month, researchers explained that for some obese patients Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and biliopancreatic diversion procedures can reduce or even eliminate type 2 diabetes symptoms.
For the study, the researchers examined 30 obese adults between the ages of 30 and 60 who underwent either of the two weight loss surgery procedures. All of the participants had a been diagnosed with diabetes for at least five years. Two years after the surgery 95 percent of patients who had undergone biliopancreatic-diversion surgery and 75 percent of those who had a gastric bypass enjoyed a complete remission of diabetes symptoms.
These results were compared to zero percent change in a control group.
"In severely obese patients with type 2 diabetes, bariatric surgery resulted in better glucose control than did medical therapy. Preoperative BMI and weight loss did not predict the improvement in hyperglycemia after these procedures," the team summarized in their report.
by RTT Staff Writer

The 'Feeding Tube Diet' And Our Limitless Weight-Loss Idiocy

There’s a new weight loss regimen that trumps almost all other extreme diets in terms of ill advisability and downright cartoonishness. The K-E Diet has doctors putting feeding tubes into healthy people – usually young women before their wedding days – to help them lose weight: Up to 20 pounds in 10 days. The “patients” tote around a solution in a bag or purse, which delivers fats, protein, and water (no carbs) through the nasogastric tube into the stomach. Patients consume about 800 calories a day, and do not eat any actual food over the 10-day period.
To put it lightly, there are a few issues at play with the diet, which range from medical to ethical. The K-E diet puts the body into a state of ketosis, where it is burning fat instead of carbohydrate. In the short term this isn’t so bad, but might lead to bad breath and stress the liver and kidneys. Healthy people will generally rebound from this short bout of ketosis, but might be fatigued, or constipated from the lack of bulk and fiber in the solution.
The bigger issue is the fact that the diet pushes us further into the any-means-possible attitude toward weight loss. David L. Katz, MD, MPH, founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, voices his serious concerns about the diet, underlining that “it is appalling… because it opens up a whole new world of shockingly bad ideas.”
Since we’re willing to go the feeding tube route (which, by the way, is generally a medical procedure for people who cannot eat for legitimate reasons, and is not terribly pleasant), why not use other dramatic medical methods, Katz asks. “Why not medically controlled anaphylaxis for weight loss?” he wonders. “Why not a medically induced coma/anesthesia for weight loss? There is truly no limit to our weight-loss idiocy, and the willingness of the unscrupulous to capitalize on it.”

Another issue is that because weight loss happens so quickly in the K-E diet, it’s a virtual guarantee that it will come back on later. It’s a Band-Aid solution to the larger problem. Weight loss works over the long term only when one actually changes the behavior and lifestyle choices that led to overweight in the first place. “In terms of quick weight loss,” adds Katz, “it is a guarantee of quick rebound, since it involves no useful behavior change whatsoever. It has nothing at all to do with health, and basically endorses the notion that weight loss by any means is acceptable. If that is so, I recommend a 10-day cocaine binge. It will work as well, and probably be more fun, than a nasogastric tube.”
Finally, the obvious ethical issue deserves some attention. What doctor would in good conscious give a feeding tube to an otherwise healthy patient because he or she wanted to lose weight for an event? “The job of physicians is not to come up with any way to satisfy a patient’s whim no matter how fundamentally at odds with health. Our professional mission is to promote and protect health – and to serve the patient IN THAT CONTEXT.”
It’s a sad situation when doctors agree to dramatic medical methods to please their patients. “We are abdicating our profound responsibilities and most sacred pledges,” says Katz, “ when we renounce a commitment to health, and adopt an ‘oh what the hell…’ approach. It is a disgrace. Again, I think this opens up whole new roads in the realm of shockingly irresponsible idiocy on the part of doctor and patient alike. On behalf of my profession, I am ashamed.”
It’s hard to imagine that this method is in line with the Hippocratic oath that doctors take as they begin their careers. If the feeding tube diet becomes an acceptable form of weight loss, what methods will follow?

Weight Loss Programs Best Treatment for Obesity

Obese people who want to lose weight are advised to join a weight loss program for maximum results. This is according to a recent study. Participants of the research who lost at least 5 percent of body weight in the past year said that they ate less fat, exercised more and consumed prescription weight loss drugs.

According to the researchers, eating diet foods, products, using popular diets, and taking over-the-counter pills are not effective ways to lose weight. About a third of people in the United States are obese. Among them, 50 to 70 percent said that they are trying to lose weight.

Dr. Jacinda Nicklas of Harvard Medical School in Boston, and her colleagues collected data on 4,000 obese adults during the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey made from 2001 to 2006. The survey collected health, demographic, and health behavior data from adults in the United States.

The study showed that 63 percent of the respondents tried to lose weight in the last year. They were shown list of weight loss strategies and were asked which ones they tried in the past year. Almost 500 of the participants said that they lost 10 percent or more of their body weight in the past year. Around 1,000 said they lost 5 percent.

Weight loss after pregnancy: Tips to lose the baby fat

Silver Spring, Md, April 12, 2012 – Ask any mother and she will almost invariably tell you that having a baby was one of the best things she’s ever done.  However, with that bundle of joy also comes a bundle of extra weight.

Breastfeed
If you are breastfeeding and are trying to figure out when to wean, consider this: your body burns 20 calories per ounce of breast milk you produce. That adds up! How many calories you burn a day breastfeeding depends on how much milk your little one is taking, but the range is usually somewhere between 200-600 calories a day, or 10-30 ounces of breast milk.
Since dieting is not advised for breastfeeding mothers, think about all those calories in terms of a work out. An hour of aerobics burns 250-400 calories depending on intensity,  and walking for an hour burns about 180  calories for a 120lb person at a 3 mph pace (your body weight x .53 = calories burned walking per mile).

Carry your baby
Carrying you baby rather than plopping her down in an exercise gym or playpen is not only is good for your baby developmentally as she learns from watching you doing new things, but it also helps you burn off those baby pounds.  Think of the extra weight of your baby as replacing those dumbbells. Increasing the amount of weight you are moving around, increases your calories burned.  Carrying an infant burns upwards of 200 calories an hour.
Carrying baby in your arms is best for calorie burn because it builds muscle in your arms as well.  But let’s be honest, it’s hard enough getting the chores done with a baby around, it’s near about impossible to do them with a baby in your arms.  Use a baby sling or other baby carrier to get a similar benefit but be hands free. Just remember that tasks that require a lot of bending over, like cleaning the bath tub, are best left to when baby is napping.

Mother-baby exercise classes

Mom-baby classes, like baby yoga, are fun ways to get in shape while spending time with your little one. Photo by By Yihungkuo via Wikimedia. Click to enlarge.

Gyms have gotten smart. They realized that there was a large market they were missing that are just dying to lose weight, the new mothers. To that end, if you search around you are bound to find classes geared towards mother and baby. Sometimes these are yoga classes that use the baby in the different poses at your local yoga studio; sometimes you might find what you’re looking for in one of the classes offered by chains like Baby Boot Camp.  Either way classes that include the baby as part of mom’s work-out routine are good for stay-at-home moms who don’t have other childcare options, or for the new mom who does work, but wants to spend as much time as possible with her baby.

Find a walking group
There are all sorts of support groups for new mothers, and a stroller walking group is a common one out there combines the camaraderie of getting together with other new mothers with exercise.  Look for groups in your area. Frequently, such groups meet at shopping malls before the stores open and walk laps while pushing strollers and chatting. There are many benefits with this type of group: you get to meet other new mothers and children the same age as your baby, walking done inside doesn’t get rained out, and having a group expect you adds an element of peer pressure that can make the difference between you getting out of the house to exercise versus making excuses and staying at home.

Walking groups give you exercise, camaraderie and reason to keep going. Photo by Serge Melki. Click to enlarge.

Join a gym
This is something that is familiar to many people already, but once you have a baby it can be a challenge to get to the gym and onto that elliptical. That is, of course, unless your gym has child care. Not all gyms do, so shop around.  The YMCA is a good option as well. They have individual or family memberships, and aside from having exercise equipment, many of their locations have drop-in child care services, called Child Watch, so that parents can use the facilities.
One of the downsides with a traditional gym is that the same rules apply to weight loss as they did before you had a baby – you have to get there and you have to use the equipment, and there’s no one to hold you accountable or miss you if you don’t show up.

Remember exercise alone won’t take off the weight, healthy eating habits also need to be part of your plan. But, if you set realistic goals for yourself and you make the effort, you can shed those baby pounds and be back into your favorite pair of skinny jeans before your baby is walking.

Best Weight Loss Diet Programs Now Offers A Free Nutrition Guide From Supplement Company

Nutrition and diet products company, True Healthy Products recently released a new appetite suppressant called, the “Appetite Assistant.” The appetite suppressant tablet can be incorporated with the balanced nutrition eating plan offered by the company that will aid in weight loss and is considered one of the best weight loss diet programs available by many.

Download the free balanced nutrition eating guide visit the company’s website at http://www.appetiteassistant.com/.

The Appetite Assistant’s free diet guide is a simple categorized meal plan to achieve different results. The Appetite Assistant’s Balanced Nutrition Eating Guide can aid in losing weight as well as maintaining weight while learning a healthy eating lifestyle.

“I lost a total of 5 lbs in the 10 days and I felt great the whole time. I usually get hungry around 10:00 and 3:00 but did not get hungry at all. I did not do any exercise during the first 10 days,” says Melanie, actual appetite assistant user.
The balanced nutr
ition eating guide can be considered on of the best weight loss diet programs because it may help you:

Effectively achieve a balanced diet
Re-regulate your metabolic system
Maintain normal energy levels
Burn fat and maintain muscle

The Appetite Assistant is an appetite suppressant pill that can be taken up to three times a day to boost energy and curb hunger pangs. Although the results are more dramatic when used with the simple numbered diet guide, results can still be achieved with just the product.

For more information about the best weight loss diet programs offered by True Healthy Products, visit their website at http://www.appetiteassistant.com/.
True Healthy Products
2460 N Courtenay Parkway, #210
Merritt Island, FL 32953
USA
888-400-2920

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/business/press-releases/article/Best-Weight-Loss-Diet-Programs-Now-Offers-A-Free-3481900