Daily Diet Blog

July 31, 2007

Lipo Dissolve

Filed under: Fat Reduction — EatingToLive @ 7:09 pm

There’s a new procedure for cosmetic improvement that states it can remove unsightly fat and cellulite in as little as 2 weeks time.  The procedure is a non-surgical one and is safer and less invasive than the surgical procedures such as liposuction.  Cellulite reduction creams and treatments help to reduce the appearance of cellulite, but this treatment actually says that it destroys fat cells from the inside via series of injections (ouch). 

This new cosmetic procedure is called lipodissolve and it is performed by a physician.  What’s involved in lipodissolve is a series of small injections done directly into the problem areas of localized fatty tissue.  The mechanism of lipodissolve’s effectiveness is the injections cause the fat to be dissolved naturally by the body.
 A consultation is done prior to scheduling for the lipodissolve procedure.  Although results can be seen in as little time as 2 weeks, sometimes the lipodissolve can require from 4 to 12 sessions.
 Areas often targeted by the liipodissolve procedure are the chin area, buttocks, waist, love handles, under the eyes and arms.   If you enter asante medispa and search on your computer, you can read about lipodissolve. They feature before and after photos of clients who have gotten lipodissolve treatments.  The differences in the photos and reduction of cellulite to the buttocks and waist area were dramatic and impressive.
 In order to be eligible for lipodissolve, you must be within 30 pounds of your ideal weight. For each session of the lipodissolve treatments, only one problem area can be treated at a time.
 

July 28, 2007

Weight Loss Drug Acomplia and Suicide Risk

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 8:18 am

You may have heard of this effective prescription weight loss drug called Acomplia. It’s drug name is rimonabant, but it is marketed by drug company sanofi-aventis, and the European council that recommends drug warnings and polices the drug industry over there, our equivalent (sort of) to the FDA here in the United States, has asked the drug maker to put a new, more stern warning on the drug for its users about the possibility of increased suicidal thoughts or tendencies in some.

They stressed that it is vital for those who suffer from depression, especially extreme depression, or who are currently being treated for depression or the more serious form of clinical depression, to completely stay away from this drug, as a prudent measure against possible suicide tendencies. It’s interesting, because most prescription diet and weight loss drugs do have some sort of biochemical effect on the brain activity, but this one apparently can actually produce feelings of potential suicide in those that may already have depressed tendencies.

Makes you wonder about other diet drugs and how they affect the brain’s activity too. Supposedly, I’ve read that Acomplia does only result in short term weight loss, and that if the drug is stopped, the weight will return unless healthy habits are adhered to. Acomplia is supposed to work by suppressing desire for sweets and “bad” foods, as well as overall appetite suppression. Natural appetite suppressants, it should be noted, have not been shown to cause depression or possibility of suicidal thoughts.

Upon the European approval of the serious weight loss drug, which is recommended in conjunction with a healthy diet and moderate exercise, there were concerns cited about the possible depression side effect, and a warning was placed on the label. This new suicide warning is being added (hopefully) in addition, as they see that this could be a potential real problem for those with depression and feel they must be adequately warned. The drug has been available as a weightloss drug in Europe since mid 2006.

July 25, 2007

“Skinny Bitch” Book Gets Frank

Filed under: Dieting Trends — EatingToLive @ 10:48 pm

Well, I have to admit, the title of this book is hilarious to me, maybe because I’ve actually used this phrase in jest before when describing a woman who I secretly am jealous of for maintaining a fabulous figure while seemingly not even trying to do so.  The book “Skinny Bitch” is a coauthored book about dieting, or the anti diet, that reportedly is selling like hotcakes after Posh Spice, AKA Victoria Beckham, the notoriously skinny and ripped mother of three boys and rich as sin wife of hottie David Beckham, bought a copy of the sizzling success.

What you’ll find is mostly common sense advice, put forth in a no nonsense manner, and some advice that you may not expect, like to stay away from meats and cheeses, and other foods that are nutritionally void or have very little fiber content or nutritional traces after digesting.  In fact the coauthor of the book actually says that she promotes a vegan diet, which is a diet free of all animal products and byproducts.  That means no dairy whatsoever, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, etc, and no meats at all. 

She says that these natural products actually encourage the evacuation of toxins and fats from our body more naturally instead of tending to clog the body as meats and cheeses and dairies can do when they are consumed.  I will say, I’ve tried the vegan diet, and it’s not as hard as some may think to adhere to.  In fact, if you have digestive or colon issues, a vegan diet is probably one of the best diets you can adhere to. 

Vegans can go wrong too though.  Being a vegan doesn’t mean you can shovel in french fries.  It still means you should be making wise choices and eating plenty of veggies, fruits, and non-animal products that will cleanse instead of clog the body.  A vegan can be the anti “skinny bitch”, and in fact be pudgy, although it’s rare, but this can happen if poor food choices abound and high fat, low nutritional value foods that are starchy and clogging are chosen.

Hmm, I was wondering when the day would come when the Atkins diet would be on the way out, and a more high carb (good carb) diet would be the “in” thing again.  In fact, I looked forward to it, since this is the type of diet I prefer naturally, and the time is finally here - at least it appears it may be.  Diets always go in fads such as hoodia gums, and I’m sure we’ll see this fade and come back many times in our lifetime, but it is the best way to eat if you ask a lot of people, no matter what the fad is at the time! 

July 23, 2007

Using Tofu Alternatives

Filed under: Low Cal Ideas — EatingToLive @ 9:46 am

I’ve been on a big vegetarian kick lately.  I’ve had very little meat, and have substituted my meats with soy products and tofu products.  I’ve also substituted most of  my dairy with tofu and soy product replacements as well.  I’ve really done this not only for health reasons, but for digestive reasons.  I personally find nondairy and non-meat foods much easier to digest.  I get constipated less, can actually digest better with less gas and discomfort after eating, and feel a lot lighter after meals instead of feeling like I just ate a bowling ball.

Best part is, I actually prefer soy products and tofu products more as opposed to meat and dairy products.  The cheeses I buy are soy or tofu based, and come like wrapped American cheese.  There are also actually blocks of soy cheese available for different types of cooking, but I have to admit I haven’t been brave enough to try that one yet. 

Instead of a stir fry with chicken, I would make one with baked tofu, which is satisfying and tastes almost like a meat because of its hardy texture and the ability to stick to your ribs so to speak.  I also use a tofu based sour cream and cream cheese by Tofutti brand, which tastes excellent.  My boyfriend, who is on less of a veggie kick, did say these products took a little getting used to, but now taste pretty good and offer a good nondairy alternative to topping your foods without the added gas and discomfort. 

You do have to watch that you don’t over eat some of the Tofutti products though, because they can be fattening when consumed in large amounts.  Just because they are dairy alternative, unfortunately doesn’t mean that they are magically fat or calorie free, so ease up if you feel like you can over top your foods with these items. 

You’d be surprised at how normal you can eat if you are a vegetarian or vegan these days.  There’s no need to be deprived of protein, as there are plenty of healthy protein alternatives to meats, dairies and cheeses.  I know when people picture vegetarianism, they tend to think of it as a very restrictive diet, but it really isn’t that way nowadays, with companies now catering to the widening vegetarian segment. 

July 19, 2007

Alli’s Selling Like Hotcakes!

Filed under: Prescription Diet Aids — EatingToLive @ 7:00 pm

The new over the counter version of the formerly only prescription diet pill called Xenical, Alli, has been selling better than the make of the diet pill had assumed, even thought the consequences of cheating on your diet while on Alli may be disastrous and more than just a little embarrassing. 

What I mean by this is that people are noting that part of their success on the diet pill is due to the fact they when they cheat, they pay with runny still and sometimes uncontrollable bowel movements.  The diet pill make even suggests that you try the drug first on a day off just in case you experience the side effect of loose stool or uncontrolled bowel movements, or taking a change of underwear and pants, or wearing darkly colored pants until you get used to it. 

Is it me, or does this seem like overkill?  Alli is supposed to block approximately 25% of the fat the enters your body in any given meal.  It does this by eliminating that fat through your stool, so logically, if you cheat and eat a fatty meal, you will have a big mess on your hands, your couch, or whatever you happen to be sitting or laying on at the time your body decides to expel the extra fat from having Alli in it. 

Health and fitness supplements for fat loss like herbal phentermine and others that help control the appetite like Hoodia gums and other hoodia products I think would be more the way to go.  I don’t know about you, but I would not like the idea that I could possibly lose control of my bowels if I even ate a little too much fat in my diet one day.  This could be extremely embarrassing. 

Some are looking at it as almost a training and reward type of learned behavior, since people tend to stay away from fat due to the new consequences the Alli diet pill may unleash, and that’s fine if it works for them, but I think there are healthier ways to go about losing weight.  Is anyone else also concerned about what a pill that can alter your elimination process like this could possibly do to your bowels long term?  Yikes…. 

July 16, 2007

Aspartame Not to Be Probed By FDA, For Now

Filed under: Health News — EatingToLive @ 5:11 am

The popular and widely used artifical sweetener Aspartame, has avoided FDA investigation at the urging of several health professionals as well as a scientific research firm in Italy that headed the latest study on rat consumption of the sweetener with no calories, finding it’s intake increased the risk of certain types of cancers including lymphoma and breast cancer. 

Aspartame is the sweetener used in Nutrasweet, which is sold as Equal in packages people used to sweeten drinks and is widely used in soft drinks as well as an artificial sweetener that serves as a low cal alternative to real sugar, which is high in calories and impacts our blood sugar in a different way.

The study done in Italy was done over a course of several years on rats that were not killed in the study, but rather were allowed to live their life naturally until they died.  The (poor) rats were given high doses of aspartame, in fact much higher than the current recommended cap given for human consumption, and when they died, a high amount of cancers were caught, leading to the hypothesis that aspartame increases the likelihood of cancer enough to warrent further research. 

One professional goes so far as to say stop buying the stuff until further research is done, which he was hoping would be sanctioned by the FDA, who is responsible for keeping overtly harmful substances off store shelves which are labeled as foods, but that is not going to happen.  The FDA released a statement to the effect that they do not believe the newest study shows imminent danger, and therefore they do not feel the urgency to investigate this product is there, especially since the amount being consumed by the rats in the study was higher than what most average people would consume of the stuff per day.

I like aspartame, and I love Diet Coke, which I believe is one of the soft drinks that contains the artificial sweetener, but I don’t drink it every day, and I rarely if ever will drink more than one soda per day of any sort, so I’m thinking people like me shouldn’t worry too much, but who knows, this stuff could be toxic over time - we just don’t know.  In the meantime, I’d stick to all natural, unaltered sweeteners like Stevia folks.  Wonder if this stuff is in sugar free gums too?

 

July 13, 2007

Calorie Count Rule : What is It?

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 2:28 pm

I read an interesting headline the other day, so had to read on of course, to see if there were new restrictions that I didn’t know about, imposed on restaurants and chains due to the obesity and heart disease epidemic.  The headline read something like “NY Eateries Ignore Calorie Rule” .  What would you think that means?  I thought maybe it meant there was some sort of fairly bizarre new calorie count rule on meals or on ingredients used in fast food or restaurant meals.  Here’s what it actually is.

The new rule isn’t apparently as bizarre as I was thinking - and duh, I’d heard this before, just not in those words, which tend to be confusing.  It’s about a new rule that’s been trying to be enforced for a while about fast food eateries and restaurants putting the calorie count for different menu items in a readable format or right on the menu along with the prices on food items.

Pretty good idea, I think, but should it actually be enforced?  I think it should be a rule that restaurants have this information available to a customer if the customer needs it, but do I really want to sit down to a nice sandwich and see the calorie content even if I don’t want to, and want to enjoy a nice, fattening, heart destroying burger if I want without knowing the consequences of my splurge?

July 1st was the beginning date of the new rule that has been imposed on NY eateries dictating that they must print the calorie count for menu items on the menu.  But not all eateries are complying, whether they just aren’t ready to or are flipping the finger to the new requirement.  Two biggies, McDonalds and Burger King are the most notorious disobeyers of the new requirement, and I think I know why.  Since the print size of the calorie count on the menus has to be as big as or bigger than the size of the price, this may be a tad disenchanting to execs there since this could possibly be a deterrent to one who wants to purchase a whopper with cheese, or a Big Mac, since the calorie counts are pretty high on those sandwiches. 

They are probably trying to figure out a way to do this without hurting their business, which I can’t say I blame them for.  I’m not sure if this is government putting their hands where they shouldn’t be or not.  I do know that I wouldn’t mind seeing the calorie counts right on the menus, and people still have free will to buy that burger and fries even if the calorie count is more than half a day’s calorie allowance for their height and weight.  What about it? Do you think they are overstepping their bounds, or that this is a logical next step in the government’s stepping in to “protect us from ourselves”.  Yikes, I don’t even like the sound of that! 

July 10, 2007

Burger King Gets on Trans Fat Ban Board

Filed under: Health News — EatingToLive @ 9:48 am

Burger King, criticized for being one of the more slow moving fast food restaurants to embrace the move away from harmful and arguably addictive trans fats in their foods and cooking oils, has now announced a timetable for completely eradicating trans fats from their foods.  They have said that by the end of this year, all of their fast food restaurants should be equipped with their newly selected frying oil which is trans fat free.

Burger King has said it was concerned about preserving the flavors that their foods are known for, and trans fats notoriously deliver more flavor to foods, at the expense of health.  Trans fats can sky rocket cholesterol, and are suspected as a contributor to the rise in heart disease here in the US.  I guess we could say just steer clear of fast food altogether but for many Americans this would be unrealistic in today’s hectic, grab a bite as you go lifestyles. 

The ban on trans fats is at least a positive step in the right direction for the fast food industry.  While most of the foods you will get at fast food joints tend to be nutritionally void anyways, at least they will not contain the added fact that trans fats can add to cholesterol woes as well.

July 7, 2007

The Nature of Obesity

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 5:47 pm

Research studies have been done recently with a  variety of different angles and logic to find ways to control the obesity epidemic so prevalent in our country.  There’s one recent study that’s causing a lot of hope in the medical and research community.  In a laboratory setting using laboratory mice, scientists simulated stress for the animals and fed these same animals a diet simulating our fat and carbohydrate laden junk food diet. 

The highly stressed, junk food eating mice became obese within three months of the unhealthy routine.  Scientists then examined their fat tissue and found a high concentration of neuropeptide Y, or NPY, and also of the partner to it, neuropeptide Y2R receptor.   With this knowledge in mind, scientists then injected a substance to block NPY with amazingly successful results.  Other substances such as hoodia are thought to work well to inhibit the appetite, which is ultimately responsible in one way or another for obesity and us overindulging in the wrong foods at the wrong times.   

This substance, the NPY blocker, not only prevented the stressed out, junk food eating mice from accumulating fat, but it also shrank fat deposits 40 to 50 % in just two weeks time.  These are clinical studies done on animals only so far, but the possibilities and promise of these findings for use in people are hopeful.   Safety and effectiveness on humans will remain to be studied in several years. 

This clinical research provides a breakthrough in understanding the nature and science of fat accumulation and reasoning as to why obesity is becoming epidemic.  Finding the nature of the problem will assist scientists to find clues to the solution. 

July 4, 2007

Less Junk in Junk Food?

Filed under: Diet and Weightloss News — EatingToLive @ 1:11 pm

In response to consumer demand, the amounts of “junk” in junk foods is being reduced.  Some of the areas that are being improved upon are a reduction of the percentage of fats, sugar and sodium in the munchies we’re eating today.  For portion size, there’s often smaller packages with less calories per serving.
 Some companies that produce these snack foods are restricting the use of licensed characters to promote their goods to young people.  The use of a cute popular cartoon character on a high fat, high sugar snack or cereal undermines good nutrition and the health and fitness of young people today. 


 Of concern for the future health of our country is the rapid rise of obesity in our children. In schools, there are moves to eliminate soft drinks and trans fats from the cafeteria menu and vending machines.  Snack foods that are an alternative to traditional munchies are baked Doritos, Lay’s and Cheetos.  Fast food companies are responding to the new health consciousness with versions of McDonald’s Happy Meals, for example, with sliced apples, chicken nuggets and low fat milk.    For adults, we are seeing more salads on the fast food menus.  This movement is becoming self regulated to a degree because of public demand for healthier options.
 Kraft has responded with a Sensible Solution line of products with a green flag indicating lower levels of fat, sugar or salt than it’s usual.  The government and health industry is looking for more uniformity in labeling and standards for the food industry.  We are not there yet, but there is a move in the right direction.
 This is an important issue involving the food industry versus the health industry as 66.3 percent of adults over age 20, in 2004, were either overweght or obese.  It is the reason that health and fitness supplements for fat loss have picked up enormously in popularity and are literally a billions and billions of dollar industry.  It is a subject that merits attention and action.  While junk food is still not “health food”, at least reduction of fat, sodium and sugar is a start on addressing this problem.

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