Archive for August, 2008

Welsh, English Threaten Taking Obeses Kids From Parents

It has often been said here in the US that parents who allow their children to become obese or morbidly obese are just as guilty of neglect and abuse as someone who actually physically or mentally neglects or abuses a child, and on some levels I agree, although a parent does not have complete control over their child once they are in school either, so there are other factors at work there.

Michael Phelps Eats 12,000/Day When Training!

Well, this came as a shock, seeing how record breaking Olympian Michael Phelps has one of the most ripped and fat free midsections I’ve ever seen in my life, but apparently when he is training, he takes in about 12,000 calories a day.  That’s almost 10,000 more calories per day than is recommended for men of normal size.  Of course, that is, men that aren’t in intensive Olympic training almost all day.

Swimming is notoriously one of the best calorie burning exercises though, so it doesn’t come as a shock that as a frequent swimmer, Mr. Phelps needs the constant energy supplied by his high carb, high fat diet, and he burns it right off as fast as he eats it. 

I’m not sure what the physiological reason is that swimming has for being one of the highest calorie burning exercises, but I can remember swimming in the lake or in the pool for HOURS as a kid, and being completely famished afterwards, almost like you just couldn’t stuff enough food in your face fast enough, so frolicking in the water must be one of the most body stressing exercises that is known. It also is exactly the opposite of natural appetite suppressant, instead fueling a ridiculously huge appetite from all the expenditure that is happening. 

Phelps eats huge helpings of things like fried egg sandwiches, breads, and protein, none of them in the low fat category either. I’m just wondering how, with all these high carb and high fat choices, he does keep his energy up, because we’ve always been told in the past that these are the types of foods that actually make us more tired when it’s all said and done. 

He may also be on a ton of supplements or there may be considerations to his diet that we wouldn’t even think of, such as how it may affect his buoyancy, or maybe how it will affect his aerodynamics or speed when he is competing, that they have also factored into knowing he can handle the high calorie diet. 

I wonder if other Olympians are on that high of a calorie, high carb diet, or if this is just for the swimmers since their’s is one of the most strenuous and calorie consuming sports of all the Olympics. 

I’m Testing and Reviewing “The 7 Minute Miracle” Spot Fat Reduction Book

I was recently at a second hand store and found a book I had never heard of before for a dollar, called “The 7 Minute Miracle” that was about spot reducing problem areas on your body and actually targeting localized fat successfully, which has basically been disputed for years now as an impossibility.  I was intrigued by some before and after shots of people who clearly were able to reduce their body fat since their muscles were showing through in the second picture while they were not in the first.

I have ony tried the prescribed regimen, which includes a once a day meal plan for either breakfast, lunch or dinner, whichever you choose, and then a seven minute exercise program that is to be done before the meal to have an optimum combination effect.  The exercises you do are very simple, and you can choose to spot tone a number of body parts, but can only do one at a time.

The body parts you can target are the arms (lots of women, like me, have problems with upper arm fat, a common fat storage area for women due to hormonal activity), the buttocks, thighs, hips, and abdominal area (belly).  The 7 minutes is a self-imposed intense workout of just that one area, and it’s basically just three very simple exercises that burn out the specified muscles in those 7 minutes, but just enough to target fat cells, not to increase appetite, at least according to the author of the book.

The spot fat reduction meals are specific, in many cases he even gives you brand names of the foods you need to eat.  They even include a little “dessert” after them, which I’m assuming adds to the fat burning capability of the program.  I gotta tell you, after doing it twice now, I thought seven minutes was nothing, but my arms (the second body part I targeted), and my thighs are sore from the 7 minutes of movement. 

I’ll write more on the 7 Minute Miracle and let you know if it is successful in wittling down my thighs and arms! 

Ever Have a “Binge” Day?

OMG, I’m so having one of those days where I literally feel like a bottomless pit. I’m not sure if I just started the day off wrong and am now paying for it with an unrelenting appetite from hell, or whether this is my typical, couple times a month, non stop hunger day.  You probably all know exactly what I’m talking about too. 

It’s like you know you should be full and satisfied by all the stuff you’ve been piling in your mouth, and yet, either because of a blood sugar or hormonal issue, or perhaps because of being mentally bored, you keep eating, and eating and eating….and…you get the point.

Let me tell you how I started off my day, and how it snowballed into a pure carb day, and consuming a whole lot of carbs at that!  I started the day with a large bagel.  Stop right there before you chastise though, because at least it was a whole grain bagel.  Well, go ahead and chastise now, because guess what I had on top of that bagel?  A couple nice pats of butter!  And not the low fat or low salt variety either.  Nope, it was real, hard, bonified dairy butter!

So with a heavily buttered bagel starting my day, I knew I was in trouble by the feeling of malaise that set in immediately after I finished it.  It was like I felt like I needed dessert or something, which if you are a carb freak, you know is fairly common after eating carb loaded meals, no matter the time of day.

I held off the “dessert” part though, and was  good girl and avoided the vending machine at work to get some M&M’s (although those did come later), and instead opted for the delicious, huge nectarine I had brought with me.  For anyone who is not familiar with their fruits, a nectarine is a hairless version of a peach basically, except I happen to like the flavor and texture of nectarines better.

I was ok right after the nectarine, but about 45 minutes later, I was craving sugar, like refined, bad sugar, so I dug into my desk and found a small handful of jelly belly jelly beans.  Still feeling unsatisfied I decided to just wait it out til lunch.  At lunch I had what I brought from home, a large serving of brown rice and beans, topped with petite diced tomatoes.  It was delish as usual, but I still wasn’t satisfied, so after I went to the gym at work and exercised, I had a huge bag of honey mustard pretzels.  Do you think I might benefit from a good carb blocker now?  I’m sure it couldn’t hurt!

I’m currently rounding out the day with a bag of plain M&M’s, and I’m hoping this’ll do it, because Lord knows my poor thighs were just beginning to enjoy a bit of slimming down from previous efforts! Hopefully I can control my ravenous appetite at dinner, I’ve probably already consumed over 2000 calories today!

Biggest Loser’s Bob Harper and His Book “Are You Ready”

Bob Harper, who is a fitness and diet specialist who appears regularly on the Biggest Loser, one of the most popular shows still today on network TV (can you tell America is still obsessed with losing weight and weight in general?), has written a book entitled “Are You Ready?:, and from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like a novel approach at looking at weight loss and helping to psychologically counsel people through losing weight by addressing what’s inside their head first, so they can be prepared to eat right for a lifetime and not just “diet”. 

He says too often diets fail, and that people are really mentally ready for a life change by changing the way they view themselves and look at food, but they will try quick fix diets in hopes of getting a quick answer to their weight issues.  Bob Harper also says that he sees an “awakening” in the Biggest Loser contestants that happens after they get over the money winning factor and start to see that the show and the weight loss is going to awaken them in the way they live their lives also.

He talked also about how he has a part of the book that is an inner compass plan, where the person is held responsible for the food they eat as a starting awareness of where teh problem lies, because they have to keep a daily food journal and are essentially forced into looking at the reasons they are overweight and why their attempts at losing weight and keeping it off keep failing.

He also says that you have to accept who your are and forgive yourself for any failures.  It really helps you change the negative thought patterns that sabotage eating plans as well as weight loss and weight maintenance efforts.  He says you need to eat to lose weight, not starve yourself, like many people do.  He says skipping breakfast is one of the worst things you can do, which is what so many people do today, and they load up on the end of the day.

Bob Harper says that his book is about addressing the whole lifestyle, not a quick fix.  Amen to that!  Couldn’t agree more. 

Alpha Lipoic Acid May Prevent Weight Gain After Weight Loss

In an interesting new development, and one that I’m excited about because I happen to already include this excellent little antioxidant supplement in my daily vitamin and supplement routine, alpha lipoic acid, one that is touted for it’s antioxidant and skin enhancing capabilities in the body, may also help prevent those that have lost weight from regaining it back when it is taken after a weight loss has occurred.  What this means is that those who have had a weight loss, say of ten or more pounds, may benefit from taking this powerful little acid in a supplement, because it has been shown in lab animals to help prevent the body fat/weight from coming back on after initial loss.

In lab rats who were given the supplement of alpha lipoic acid, those that had lost the weight previously maybe over a period of a few months, from being on a restricted calorie diet, which is of course the best and most known way to lose weight, did not gain back their weight when they were again put on their normal caloric diet after they lost their initial weight from being on a restricted calorie diet for a significant period of time.

It is unknown from what I read on this interesting news how scientists were lead to belive that alpha lipoic acid may help those who have lost weight from gaining it back after they are off their diet, but the mechanism they are thinking is a trickery that occurs that is triggered by the alpha lipoic acid supplementation after the weight loss, where the body is tricked into thinking it is still on a “diet”. 

No numbers were really given to say how much the rats lost, of course this would have to be measured in percentages since rats are much smaller than humans, so we can scale it in our minds, but you may want to look into this phenomenon further if you have recently lost weight or are thinking about losing weight via a restricted calorie diet and don’t want to risk putting it all back on once you return to a normal diet (of course, this probably does not mean you can just gorge yourself either and not gain an ounce of it back, but this is within reason). 

Milk OK, but Only Low Fat

It’s long been heralded as one of the best ways for people to get their daily dose of calcium, especially women, who have had problems in older age maintaining bone density and calcium in the bones due to estrogen levels dropping with age.  It’s the ever popular, sometimes snubbed, health food that is milk.  But oh no, milk is not always good, and I still belive personally that milk should be consumed in moderation because I do believe it can cause havoc to the digestive system if it’s consumed too much.

However, if you are going to drink milk, make sure it is of the lowfat variety.  I like to personally drink milk that has the lactaid enzyme added to it (Lactaid brand), because it has the taste of good, fresh milk, without the discomfort that regular milk gives me afterwards, because it contains the digestive enzyme in it that makes it as though the lactose is not even present, which is a Godsend to anyone who is the least bit lactose intolerant, like me.

Low fat dairy products are suspected as a great helper in the battle of the bulge, and have even been prescribed by lots of diet gurus to those who are trying to lose pounds as a way to help take the fat off the body, and leave the lean muscle.  For whatever reason, it is thought that low fat dairy products can help inhibit fat formation on the body, or maybe that just means it somehow blocks the fat from even be digested.

At any rate, you should probably limit your consumption of dairy, but as our previous post states, don’t replace it with soy products, because these can do more harm than good, just make sure you switch to low fat varieties of dairy products such as cheese and milk, and you should enjoy a slimmer waistline! 

Exercise Benefits Without Exercising?

Well, whenever I hear this one, it really just tends to make me mad.  The idea that any company, whether pharmaceutical or not, would try to sell anything that claims you do not need exercise or that it is a replacement for exercise is just very irresponsible.  Even every diet product on here that we discuss or recommend, such as the hoodia gum breakthrough which allows the hoodia molecules to slowly be absorbed through the tongue and mouth, or the carb blockers that are recommended, we still emphasize that exercise is always needed, and in order to not only keep weight off, but to live a healthy and fulfilling life, you need exercise.

Well, even if this new pill’s claims are true, I still will never fully buy that any pill or supplement would fully replace the need for exercise.  The new pill is one that has been developed by a pharmaceutical company and tested on lab mice and found to be somewhat of a replacement for exercise because it produced benefits that are similar to those that are related to working up a sweat. 

Here’s how it benefitted the sedentary mice that took it.  They took this “miracle pill” for four weeks and scientists found that they not only burnt more calories than their counterparts who didn’t get the pill, but they also were evaluated for body fat and were found to have less body fat after they were inoculated with the new concoction. 

You think that’s incredible?  Well not only did they test for higher calorie burning, but even after being sedentary, they were tested on treadmills and tested better than the mice that were not inoculate, inferring that the pill not only increased their metabolism and fat burning capabilities, but also somehow cardiovascularly conditioned them to be able to perform physically just as they had been working out all along.  Hmm, sounds good, but there’s gotta be some sort of drawback. 

This pill would however be good for people who are somehow unable to exercise because of a physical condition, so this will be a good development for situations like that.  Hopefully it is never prescribed to medically sound people though who just don’t want to work out. 

Is Soy Good or Bad for Us?

Well, I used to, like everyone else, think that soy-based products were fine. In fact, I thought they were so fine, and actually good for you, that I would eat them in plentiful abundance some days when I didn’t feel like eating meat. I love the flavor of most soy based processed products, but I do have one complaint about them, and that is they seem to make my breath really bad, and bad for hours too, after I eat them, so it hangs on.

Do Digestive Enzymes Help Aid Digestion?

About two months ago, I had some major problems with indigestion, and a friend of mine has had problems her whole life basically, and like me, also had problems with IBS.  She recommended I try digestive enzymes for when I’m going to eat meals that may be a little harsh on my digestive system, such as a meal heavy in meats or fats, or even something heavy in dairy, which I have a really hard times processing without severe discomfort.

So, I went to my local GNC and bought some enzymes that were pretty lightweight, not really the “real” enzymes that you pop before your meal that tend to really help with the digestion, but this time I bought these papaya enzymes that taste like candy.  While I do think they helped to ease indigestion when taken after a meal, they really didn’t help to ease severe discomfort and I wondered how something that tastes like candy could really be helping increase my digestive juices and enzymes in my stomach so that I could digest foods much more easily.

So, the next time I went back to GNC, I got the real deal.  These were capsules that were labeled as digestive enzymes, and they contained several different types of enzymes, which were the same enzymes found naturally in your stomach “juices” that help you to digest certain types of foods.  For example, did you know that you have specific enzymes in your stomach to digest dairy, and then yet another to help break down vegetables and fiber-y foods, and yet another that helps you to digest meats and proteins, and then again another that helps to break down carbohydrates easily?

I like these enzymes from GNC, and if I can remember to pop two of them or one of them before a meal, I do notice a substantial difference in how well my food is digested and how much less discomfort and indigestion I experience, so there is something to be said about these digestive enzymes. If you would try them, I would suggest probably getting one that contains all of the enzymes necessary to break down all food groups, so that you get complete help no matter what you’re eating that day.