Daily Diet Blog

January 28, 2007

Controversial New IQ Test for Gastric Bypass Patients?

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 1:51 pm

I didn’t think this even sounded legal, but apparently it is, or this insurance company has slipped by thus far with this stipulation.  According to some news stories, a certain health insurance company is now requiring prospective gastric bypass patients to take an IQ test. 

Is this because they do not trust people of a certain IQ to follow through with taking care of themselves after the surgery, or for the simple fact that they will discriminate against those that do not pass a certain mark on the IQ test?  It seems like it’s right on the line of questionable, and people are questioning it, as expected.

Within the past few years, we’ve heard more and more about gastric bypass surgery, and the popularity of the surgery seems to be speeding up, not slowing down.  This has led some to believe that many insurance companies are having a tough time keeping up with the requests from patients who want the weight reduction surgery for the medically obese, and are looking for reasons to say no to some of them to help reduce costs and perhaps even discourage people from asking for the procedure.

A spokesperson for the insurance company in question said that the test is not really an IQ screening, it’s more of a test to see what the patient’s knowledge is about the surgery, to see if they are a qualified candidate, and a patient has never been turned down for the surgery based solely on the screening test so far.

Consumer and obesity advocacy groups are speaking out against this new policy, saying the prospective gastric bypass patients already have to face enough red tape to get the surgery done, and this really just adds one more hurdle to jump for them, making it less “user friendly” for those that truly medically need the surgery to reduce their weight. 

January 23, 2007

Cafeteria Food Finally Getting Diss It Deserves?

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 9:06 am

Well, apparently kids are starting to turn their noses up, as they should, to typical school cafeteria fare like sticky buns, and other nutritionless foods that typically dominate the cafeteria like pizza, brownies, tasteless casseroles and more. 

Now, cafeterias are starting to offer healthier, more wholesome foods to students, as they should have when you and I were kids and going to school.  Think of all the blood sugar problems you could have avoided, the after lunch crashes, the lack of concentration, due to carbed up, sugared up and fatty foods like hamburgers and hot dogs that really did nothing for you in the way of health or nutrition.

This may not only be due to increasing efforts to teach kids about making the right food choices, but also perhaps a movement in general toward organic foods, and the awareness that we can eat foods that taste great and are still healthy and nutritious.  I’m sure a lot of it has to do with pure vanity too, which if you ask  me, is just fine.  As long as the end result is healthier, happier kids and teens, then I’m all for whatever the reasons behind a healthier cafeteria movement might be!

 

January 20, 2007

Appetite Control Gum to Be Approved Soon?

Filed under: Prescription Diet Aids — EatingToLive @ 2:51 pm

The latest news in the never-ending world of weight loss and dieting aids, is the latest diet aid may be a chewing gum which helps the brain register fullness sooner than it normally would.

This earlier fullness or satiety, would, of course, result in weight loss for the patient since they would be eating smaller amount of food and taking in less calories, many times substantially less, depending on the depth of the level of appetite control achieved.

Calorie intake and portion control are two of the leading reasons Americans are currently suffering astronomical percentages of obesity and weight related health issues today.

Unfortunately, I did not get to see what the active ingredient in this new chewing gum would be, since my internet decided to time out on me halfway through my reading and I couldn’t locate the article again, but it is clearly something that either controls the blood sugar which can in turn control the appetite, or it may also control the brain area responsible for the appetite and the process of feeling “full”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 16, 2007

New Years Diet Up in Smoke Already?

Filed under: Dieting Trends — EatingToLive @ 10:56 am

Almost everyone who ever had a little extra weight on them than they personally preferred, resolved to end the weight gain fluctuation this new years, and most likely went on a diet to rid themselves of excess poundage.  Losing weight, exercising, and just being healthier are one of the top new years resolutions that we all know of.  In fact, it was one of mine, although, not at the top of my list (the top of my list was to start saving more money and stop wasting it on stupid things). 

So why do I always see about double the people in the gym for the first week or two of the new year, and then it just suddenly fizzles, as if all these new years resolutioners just decide that they really didn’t want to become more physically fit all of the sudden, and just cancelled their gym membership out of hopelessness. 

Well, part of the reason new years diets seem to go up in smoke so fast is that most people make this same resolution every year, and they genuinely have the intent to stick to it also.  The problem comes in when they realize that life still comes with its same challenges, and that they must still take the time to do everything else in their life that demands daily attention. 

Also, the pressure to eat badly comes in to play when fast food becomes more appealing as time crunches start to enter the picture again.  Work schedules resume their normal, grueling pace after a certain time, and life is back to normal - along with everyone’s eating habits - for the better or worse. 

January 14, 2007

Depression and Weight Gain

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 8:30 pm

Depression and weight gain often, unfortunately, go hand in hand.  I’d like to say that depression usually causes the reverse, a slight weight loss, rather than weight gain, as weight is usually a little easier to put back on than to take off, but in fact, most of my friends, and myself, experience weight gain when going through “blue” periods. 

This weight gain during depression may be explained by the fact that depression many times causes levels of certain hormones, like seratonin, to fluctutate in our bodies.  These same hormones many times are a big part of our appetite, and their subsequent fluctuation can mean trouble for an outlandish appetite that just won’t quit.

Also, we often tend to try to fill emotional voids by doing what is called “comfort food eating”.  The foods we all consider comfort foods are often loaded with fat, and actually cause immediate gratification by appealing to our sense of smell and taste by kind of bombarding them with lots of fat (which has tons of flavor), salt (also, tons of flavor), and sweet sensations which help comensate for the lack of feel good chemicals in our body. 

Or so our body thinks. In fact, while these types of foods can cause instant gratification, in the long term they actually cause critical sugar crashes and hormone imbalances which only trigger further depression and mood swings. 

January 12, 2007

Do Kids Make You Fat?

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 6:58 am

Well, that’s what some studies are inferring, that having children makes you more likely to gain weight, and maintain that gained weight, at least more so than their couterparts who do not have children.  The study specifically shows that adults with children in their homes eat substantially more bad fat in their diet than their counterparts with child-free homes. Might this be since many parents tend to give their children more fattening foods, like ice cream, macaroni and chees, crackers, and other sorts of slowly burned carbs and fats?  It could be….

The reasons cited for this type of discrepancy are the usual.  That high fat, high salt, and less nutritionally valuable foods tend to be consumed by parents and kids because parents simply don’t have the time to cook wholesome healthy meals from scracth too much any more.  Not only that, fatty, salty and high sugar foods are more convenient and more affordable, something I wish we’d really see change in the next ten years.

Why can’t organic foods that are wholesome and healthy be cheap?  This has always perplexed me, that we mass produce so much of our food now, and load it with fattening additives, bug sprays, and other toxins, that the only logical conclusion would be a surge in obesity and weight problems along with blood sugar and obesity related health issues in the US over the past few years. 

January 10, 2007

Breakthrough Weight Loss Drug Approved by FDA…For Dogs

Filed under: Prescription Diet Aids, Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 11:23 am

When I first saw the headline when checking my Yahoo mail account, I got excited, because we all know that new and exciting medical weight loss drugs, let along herbal weight loss pills, come only every once in a blue moon usually, especially ones that cause any type of stir or have any real merit. Well, come to think of it, most of them end up being unsafe in some way, but nonetheless, I was still kind of excited to read about the newest weight loss pill approved by the FDA. Then I read the rest of the headline, and it’s actually and FDA approved weight loss drug for Dogs.

Yep, that’s right, our good old FDA approved a diet pill for our pooches who are carrying around a little too many pooch pounds on their bellies and their hind quarters. The pill is called Slentrol, and it is approved only for use on dogs who are actually categorized as “obese”. What this means is that they must be considered to be at high risk for certain diseases and health disorders because of their high weight, to be put on this obesity prevention and weight reduction pill expressly for canines. The liquid drug, by the drug giant Pfizer, is a drug which is supposed to limit the amount of fat a dog’s body can absorb.

Ooh, wait a second, wasn’t that what the nasty fat substitute, Olean was supposed to do for humans? Remember the horrible gastrointestinal side effects? I hope these poor guys don’t have to go through that misery simply to get slimmer. How about these owners just put their dogs on a restricted diet?

January 8, 2007

The Trans Fat Debate

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 7:36 am

Much as I feel Americans need to become more health conscious in their food choices, I find the banning of trans fats from New York eateries very extreme. It is up to each individual person to exercise their free will and hopefully with education make wiser food choices.
The banning of trans fats by the health department in New York is, in my opinion, government overstepping personal boundaries of freedom. What started with seat belts, helmets and smoking has gone past a line that is excessive. 

I can understand eliminating “junk food” from children’s choices in school’s cafeterias. Adding more salads, fresh fruits and vegetables to food choices for school children is also a good idea. Educating parents to encourage similar food choices at home would be another step in the right direction.  Also, there are some new and exciting fat binders on the horizon, one to soon be released called Proactol - see the review of Proactol here if you’d like to read about why it is clinically proven to fight fat. Maybe by the time you get this, it’s going to already be available to the general public…

Governmental control of adults’ food choices in New York eateries is a different matter. The psychology of our government deciding what we can and can not put on our plates to eat is stress provoking. As we all know, much of the problem with obesity is from people overeating
compulsively in response to stress. It’s rather ironic. 

With violent crimes and drug trafficking on the rise, I can think of better ways that the government can spend it’s money and manpower enforcing laws. The same money spent on dietary education in the school systems for children would be put to better, more positive use.  Hopefully, the result of education would be better personal choices of menu items at home and in restaurants without government intervention. 

January 6, 2007

More on Trans Fats…

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 6:43 am

After recommending education as opposed to government intervention for cutting out trans fat consumption, I thought I’d better do some
self education about food products I consume daily. So I started going through my refrigerator and cabinets reading labels.So I started with my personal favorite that I eat lots of daily. I was not pleased to see that Fleischmann’s margarine that boasts of no cholesterol on the front label has a whopping 2 g. of trans fat per 1 tbsp. serving.

Next trip to the grocery store I picked up I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter, Mediterranean Blend with 0 g trans fats per serving. The bad news for me was I did not care for the flavor. So I’ll  have to research the butter substitute further with my next grocery outing.  Next on the agenda of trans fat awareness was olive oil, a personal favorite for cooking. It was good news on this one. Olive oil has 0 g of trans fats per serving. Olive oil is a keeper.
More label reading included mayonnaise, ranch dressing and Marzetti’s red french dressing. All of these have 0 g trans fat per serving.
The next food product I checked was a house brand of creamy peanut butter. This particular product label did not specify if there are trans
fats or not so it is an uncertainty. 

I’ll probably change my shopping habits and personal food choices to keep my food choices tasty and appealing but cut down or eliminate trans fat consumption where I can. My label reading raised my awareness about trans fats so I can make some changes in products I eat daily. 

January 4, 2007

Trimspa, Other Diet Pills Fined by FTC

Filed under: Herbal Supplements, Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 10:41 pm

The FTC, or Federal Trade Commission, is pretty much the US agency in charge of false advertising punishment and policing, and is “sicked on” companies who sell products that customers have complained about as not doing the things they say they’re going to do in their advertising claims.  Well, apparently there are a few very popular diet pills and herbal weight loss pills, one of which I’ve actually used before, that have suffered an FTC fining for false claims. 

One of the companies in fact, that was fined for false claims, is a diet pill named Xenadrine actually claimed that their product caused several people to lose weight against a placebo pill, when in fact the FTC uncovered studies when doing their investigation of Xenadrine that the company was aware of themselves, that showed a placebo actually made people lose more weight than the Xenadrine pill!  This may be an extreme case of misleading advertising, especially considering the company had blatant proof in their possession that the exact opposite of their inflated claims were true. 

Other herbal weight loss pills and diet supplements were fined as well, including a popular vitamin that claims it helps to accelerate the metabolism, another claim the FTC claims is exaggerated or falsified to sell more product, and that is the One a Day WeightSmart vitamin supplement, was fined some money as well although not as much as the bigger offenders.

The other weight loss pills in the investigation that were fined for false or exaggerated weight loss and diet help claims were two others you may have seen advertised or even heard about before, because they are fairly widely marketed and well known diet aids - Xenadrine EFX and CortiSlim. 

I believe they probably did these investigations around this time of year because this is the time when most people are looking for supplements and other things to help them shed those winter and holiday pounds.  Maybe they’ll crack down again on exaggerated claims right before summer.  Who knows. 

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