Today’s Re-Powering Information – Stress – its every where. We have physical stress, mental, emotional, environmental, chemical and mechanical stressors all around us. We have moved so far away from what is natural regarding sleeping and eating and recovering that our bodies many times are under chronic stress. Since stress is everywhere, we have no choice but to manage it as best we can. You should have an arsenal of stress relievers. Boot camp is a great one. Everyone always compliments about how fast the hour goes (most of the time) and that they leave feeling wonderful! Another wonderful and easy to apply stress reliever is breathing exercises. I have taken classes in breath therapy and can tell you first hand that your breath can make you feel very heavy, very light and completely invigorated. Read on to see some stress relieving breathing exercises. You may feel silly doing them, but they work!
Dr. Mercola''s Comments
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
As many of you already know, I am passionate about finding simple, inexpensive resources that can have profound impact on your health. And breathing is one strategy that can make a tremendous difference in how you feel and age, yet it receives little attention. After all, you breathe in and out without conscious thought. As soon as you stop, you die. Surely everyone’s got this one all figured out already?
Not really. In fact, improper breathing is more the norm than the exception these days.
So implementing a breathing technique may actually be one of the most beneficial things you can do to elevate your physical health and soothe your mind.
Actually, one of my first journeys into natural health was in the early 90’s, when I attended several week-long seminars in Southern California to learn different breathing practices. They were all very useful, but a bit complicated to perform without proper instructions and practice.
There are many different breathing practices that you can try, but here I’m going to share with you one that is both powerful and very easy to perform.
I like to do it before each meal as that ensures that I will do it at least three times a day. I also like to combine it with gratitude for my meal, so for the two minutes it actually takes to do the technique, I seek to focus on gratitude for not only the food, but all the blessings in my life.
I recently learned this one when I attended a presentation by Dr. Weil at Expo West in California.
In the presentation summary he outlined some of the best resources he’s learned over his clinical career for improving health, and topping the list, interestingly, was a breathing exercise called the 4-7-8, or Relaxing Breath Exercise.
On his site, he states:
"Practicing regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energizing and can even help with stress-related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders."
The 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise
The key to this exercise is to remember the numbers 4, 7 and 8. It’s not important to focus on how much time you spend in each phase of the breathing activity, but rather that you get the ratio correct.
Here’s how it’s done:
1. Sit up straight
2. Place the tip of your tongue up against the back of your front teeth. Keep it there through the entire breathing process
3. Breathe in silently through your nose to the count of four
4. Hold your breath to the count of seven
5. Exhale through your mouth to the count of eight, making an audible “woosh” sound
6. That completes one full breath. Repeat the cycle another three times, for a total of four breaths
You can do this exercise as frequently as you want throughout the day, but it’s recommended you don’t do more than four full breaths during the first month or so of practice. Later you may work your way up to eight full breath cycles at a time.
The benefits of this simple practice are enormous and work as a natural tranquilizer for your nervous system.
Personally, I think one of its greatest values may be gained when you combine it with your meals. Most of us eat three meals a day, so it makes remembering to do it easier. Also, I believe that combining it with the attitude of gratitude for the healthy meal you just ate, or are about to eat, can have a powerful, beneficial influence on your health.
The Health Benefits of Breathing Exercises
Self-applied health enhancement methods like the 4-7-8 breathing technique are particularly remarkable because of the broad array of real health benefits that are triggered.
Learning to breathe mindfully can modify and accelerate your body's inherent self-regulating physiological and bioenergetic mechanisms.
These changes are in large part due to the fact that you’re oxygenating your body properly as well as correcting your internal and energetic balance, and it has a direct impact your nervous system.
This in turn affects your entire body and its countless cellular functions, including all of your subtle energy systems.
The web site breathing.com offers a list of clinical studies into the health benefits of optimal breathing. One such study, which spanned a 30-year period, concluded that the most significant factor in your health and longevity is how well you breathe.
It focused on the long-term predictive power of forced exhalation volume as the primary marker for life span. According to the researchers,
"This pulmonary function measurement appears to be an indicator of general health and vigor and literally a measure of living capacity."
It’s also important to realize that much of hypertension is controlled by the way you breathe, so breathing exercises are an excellent adjunct to your other healthy lifestyle strategies to control high blood pressure.
Breathing exercises such as the one I showed you above have a positive impact on your:
* Respiratory system, which can reduce mental and physical fatigue, as well as relieve symptoms of asthma and bronchitis
* Circulatory system; improving blood circulation and cell oxygenation throughout your body
* Nervous system
* Digestive system, by acting as a pump to massage internal organs
* Endocrine system. The action of your diaphragm helps push lymph throughout your body, which helps eliminate toxic waste and strengthen your immune system
* Urinary system, by helping to eliminate fluids and massaging your kidneys
* Skin. Toxic CO2 waste is eliminated more directly through your breath, and your skin can also be positively affected by improved blood flow and oxygenation
Breathing Your Way to Optimal Health
Another obvious use for the 4-7-8 breathing technique is to use it whenever you feel stressed or anxious. It’s a powerful way to help relax your system without drugs.
Best of all, it doesn’t cost you anything but a couple of minutes of your time! And, if you commit to it, I believe you’ll be absolutely shocked, and pleasantly surprised, by how quickly and easily it can center and relax you and allow you to achieve high levels of health.
For even more breathing practices, I recommend you read the article Breathing Exercises and Self Healing, written by Roger Jahnke, O.M.D., or see Dr. Weil’s website for additional exercises.
Do something special for yourself today!
Showing posts with label Pills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pills. Show all posts
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Brain Chemistry altered by foods high in fat, salt, and sugar
Today’s Re-Powering Information – The article below explains why you grab that cookie even though you know you shouldn’t eat it. It also explains why diets don’t work. The author also has a new book called “The End of Overeating”. I have not read it, but if you struggle with overfeeding, it may be worth the read.
Published Monday May 4, 2009
Brain aches for food bathed in badness
THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON - He went in the middle of the night, long after the last employee had locked up the Chili's Grill and Bar. He'd steer his car around the back, check to make sure no one was around and then quietly approach the Dumpster.
Click to Enlarge
Foods high in fat, salt and sugar alter the brain's chemistry in ways that compel people to overeat, says Dr. David Kessler, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
If anyone noticed the man foraging through the trash, they would have assumed he was a vagrant. Except he was wearing black dress slacks and padded gardening gloves.
The high-octane career path of David Kessler, the Harvard-trained doctor, lawyer, medical school dean and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, had come to this: nocturnal Dumpster diving. It took many of these forays until Kessler emerged with his prize: ingredient labels affixed to empty cardboard boxes that spelled out the fats, salt and sugar used to make the Southwestern Eggrolls, Boneless Shanghai Wings and other dishes served by the nation's second-largest restaurant chain.
Kessler was on a mission to understand a problem that has vexed him since childhood: why he can't resist certain foods.
His resulting theory, described in his new book, "The End of Overeating," is startling. Foods high in fat, salt and sugar alter the brain's chemistry in ways that compel people to overeat. "Much of the scientific research around overeating has been physiology - what's going on in our body," he said. "The real question is what's going on in our brain."
The ingredient labels gave Kessler information the restaurant chain declined to provide when he asked for it. At the FDA, Kessler pushed through nutrition labels on foods sold through retail outlets but stopped short of requiring the same for restaurants. Yet if suppliers ship across state lines, as suppliers for Chili's do, the ingredients must be printed on the box. That is what led Kessler, one of the nation's leading public health figures, to hang around trash bins across California.
The labels showed the foods were bathed in salt, fat and sugars, beyond what a diner might expect by reading the menu, Kessler said. The ingredient list for Southwestern Eggrolls mentioned salt eight different times; sugars showed up five times. The "egg rolls," which are deep-fried in fat, contain chicken that has been chopped up like meatloaf to give it a "melt in the mouth" quality that also makes it easier to eat quickly. By the time a diner has finished this appetizer, the person has consumed 910 calories, 57 grams of fat and 1,960 milligrams of sodium.
Instead of satisfying hunger, the salt-fat-sugar combination will stimulate that diner's brain to crave more, Kessler said. And the food industry manipulates this neurological response, designing foods to induce people to eat more than they should or even want to, Kessler found.
His theory, borne out in a growing body of scientific research, has implications not just for the increasing number of Americans struggling with obesity but for health providers and policymakers.
"The challenge is how do we explain to America what's going on - how do we break through and help people understand how their brains have been captured?" he said.
Kessler is best remembered for his investigation of the tobacco industry and attempts to place it under federal regulation while he was FDA commissioner from 1990 to 1997.
Kessler's aggressive approach toward the tobacco industry led to billion-dollar settlements between Big Tobacco and 46 states and laid the groundwork for legislation now pending in Congress that would place tobacco under FDA regulation.
Whether government ought to exercise tougher controls over the food industry is going to be the next great debate, especially since much of the advertising is aimed at children, Kessler said.
"The food the industry is selling is much more powerful than we realized," he said. "I used to think I ate to feel full. Now I know, we have the science that shows, we're eating to stimulate ourselves. And so the question is what are we going to do about it?"
Through interviews with scientists, psychologists and food industry insiders, and his own scientific studies and hours spent surreptitiously watching other diners at food courts and restaurants around the country, Kessler said, he finally began to understand why he couldn't control his eating.
"Highly palatable" foods - those containing fat, sugar and salt - stimulate the brain to release dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with the pleasure center, he found. In time, the brain gets wired so that dopamine pathways light up at the mere suggestion of the food, such as driving past a fast-food restaurant, and the urge to eat the food grows insistent. Once the food is eaten, the brain releases opioids, which bring emotional relief. Together, dopamine and opioids create a pathway that can activate every time a person is reminded about the particular food. This happens regardless of whether the person is hungry.
Not everyone is vulnerable to "conditioned overeating" - Kessler estimates that about 15 percent of the population is not affected and says more research is needed to understand what makes them immune.
But the key to stopping the cycle is to rewire the brain's response to food, he said.
Deprivation only heightens the way the brain values the food, which is why dieting doesn't work, he said.
Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom
Copyright ©2009 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
Published Monday May 4, 2009
Brain aches for food bathed in badness
THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON - He went in the middle of the night, long after the last employee had locked up the Chili's Grill and Bar. He'd steer his car around the back, check to make sure no one was around and then quietly approach the Dumpster.
Click to Enlarge
Foods high in fat, salt and sugar alter the brain's chemistry in ways that compel people to overeat, says Dr. David Kessler, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
If anyone noticed the man foraging through the trash, they would have assumed he was a vagrant. Except he was wearing black dress slacks and padded gardening gloves.
The high-octane career path of David Kessler, the Harvard-trained doctor, lawyer, medical school dean and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, had come to this: nocturnal Dumpster diving. It took many of these forays until Kessler emerged with his prize: ingredient labels affixed to empty cardboard boxes that spelled out the fats, salt and sugar used to make the Southwestern Eggrolls, Boneless Shanghai Wings and other dishes served by the nation's second-largest restaurant chain.
Kessler was on a mission to understand a problem that has vexed him since childhood: why he can't resist certain foods.
His resulting theory, described in his new book, "The End of Overeating," is startling. Foods high in fat, salt and sugar alter the brain's chemistry in ways that compel people to overeat. "Much of the scientific research around overeating has been physiology - what's going on in our body," he said. "The real question is what's going on in our brain."
The ingredient labels gave Kessler information the restaurant chain declined to provide when he asked for it. At the FDA, Kessler pushed through nutrition labels on foods sold through retail outlets but stopped short of requiring the same for restaurants. Yet if suppliers ship across state lines, as suppliers for Chili's do, the ingredients must be printed on the box. That is what led Kessler, one of the nation's leading public health figures, to hang around trash bins across California.
The labels showed the foods were bathed in salt, fat and sugars, beyond what a diner might expect by reading the menu, Kessler said. The ingredient list for Southwestern Eggrolls mentioned salt eight different times; sugars showed up five times. The "egg rolls," which are deep-fried in fat, contain chicken that has been chopped up like meatloaf to give it a "melt in the mouth" quality that also makes it easier to eat quickly. By the time a diner has finished this appetizer, the person has consumed 910 calories, 57 grams of fat and 1,960 milligrams of sodium.
Instead of satisfying hunger, the salt-fat-sugar combination will stimulate that diner's brain to crave more, Kessler said. And the food industry manipulates this neurological response, designing foods to induce people to eat more than they should or even want to, Kessler found.
His theory, borne out in a growing body of scientific research, has implications not just for the increasing number of Americans struggling with obesity but for health providers and policymakers.
"The challenge is how do we explain to America what's going on - how do we break through and help people understand how their brains have been captured?" he said.
Kessler is best remembered for his investigation of the tobacco industry and attempts to place it under federal regulation while he was FDA commissioner from 1990 to 1997.
Kessler's aggressive approach toward the tobacco industry led to billion-dollar settlements between Big Tobacco and 46 states and laid the groundwork for legislation now pending in Congress that would place tobacco under FDA regulation.
Whether government ought to exercise tougher controls over the food industry is going to be the next great debate, especially since much of the advertising is aimed at children, Kessler said.
"The food the industry is selling is much more powerful than we realized," he said. "I used to think I ate to feel full. Now I know, we have the science that shows, we're eating to stimulate ourselves. And so the question is what are we going to do about it?"
Through interviews with scientists, psychologists and food industry insiders, and his own scientific studies and hours spent surreptitiously watching other diners at food courts and restaurants around the country, Kessler said, he finally began to understand why he couldn't control his eating.
"Highly palatable" foods - those containing fat, sugar and salt - stimulate the brain to release dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with the pleasure center, he found. In time, the brain gets wired so that dopamine pathways light up at the mere suggestion of the food, such as driving past a fast-food restaurant, and the urge to eat the food grows insistent. Once the food is eaten, the brain releases opioids, which bring emotional relief. Together, dopamine and opioids create a pathway that can activate every time a person is reminded about the particular food. This happens regardless of whether the person is hungry.
Not everyone is vulnerable to "conditioned overeating" - Kessler estimates that about 15 percent of the population is not affected and says more research is needed to understand what makes them immune.
But the key to stopping the cycle is to rewire the brain's response to food, he said.
Deprivation only heightens the way the brain values the food, which is why dieting doesn't work, he said.
Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom
Copyright ©2009 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
FDA Warns Consumers about Weight Loss Products
Today’s Re-Powering Information – I know that some of you are following Weight watchers or Jenny Craig or some other supervised diet program. Those have some merit and can be effective, although I am not thrilled with the quality of food and I would never put a frozen dinner to my lips (read the label and see why), however that’s not what I am going to address today. Today I want to cover something that I hope does not apply to any of you, but you may be able to understand to enlighten those you care about. Diet pills do not work. Not only don’t they work, they are harmful, have side effects and can kill you. Read a recent article from the Chicago Tribune and then the comments by Dr. Mercola regarding his take on Diet Pills.
FDA Warns Consumers about Weight Loss Products
diet pill, weight loss productsThe FDA has issued a new alert about weight loss products tainted by potentially dangerous ingredients. Many of the products claim to be "natural" or "herbal" but include drugs, sometimes in very high doses.
Drugs found in weight loss products include:
• Sibutramine (a controlled substance)
• Phenytoin (an anti-seizure medication)
• Phenolphthalein (a solution used in chemical experiments and a suspected cancer-causing agent)
• Bumetanide (a diuretic)
Altogether, the FDA has found 72 tainted weight loss products since it first brought the issue to public attention last December.
Sources:
Chicago Tribune March 20, 2009
Dr. Mercola''s Comments
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
It’s a tempting proposition for many. Take a diet pill, then sit back and relax as the pounds melt away. For the 15 percent of American adults who say they’ve used weight-loss supplements, many probably thought “why not”? What could they lose other than the money to buy them and possibly some extra pounds?
As it turns out, you could lose quite a bit, including your health, if you take many of these weight-loss supplements.
So far the FDA has identified 72 diet pills -- most of them imported from China -- that are tainted with hidden and potentially dangerous drugs and chemicals.
You can view a full list of the contaminated products on the FDA’s Web site. Many of them claim to be “natural” or “herbal” yet contain chemicals and drugs such as:
• Cetilistat: an experimental obesity drug that can cause serious health risks in certain populations.
• Fenproporex: a stimulant not approved for marketing in the United States, which can cause increased blood pressure, uncontrollable movements or shaking, palpitations, arrhythmia and possibly sudden death.
• Fluoxetine: the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Prozac, a prescription antidepressant, which can increase the risk of suicidal thinking and suicide in children, adolescents, and young adults.
• Furosemide: the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Lasix, a potent diuretic that can cause profound dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, leading to dehydration, seizures, GI problems, kidney damage, lethargy, collapse and coma.
• Rimonabant: the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Zimulti, which has not been approved in the United States because of increased risk of neurological and psychiatric side effects -- seizures, depression, anxiety, insomnia, aggressiveness, and suicidal thoughts among patients.
All of the tainted weight loss supplements on the list are available over-the-counter without a prescription and are not FDA-approved, but please don’t misconstrue this information. While this new finding underscores the importance of knowing where your supplements (whether for weight loss or any other purpose) come from, diet pills that are FDA-approved or available by prescription have also been linked to serious side effects.
The Risks of “Approved” Diet Pills
Two of the most well-known diet drugs in the United States are Xenical, a prescription-only drug, and its non-prescription version Alli. Unpublished studies on Xenical have revealed concerning data, including:
• Xenical increases the precursor markers to colon cancer by 60 percent in rats.
• When eating a high- fat diet and taking Xenical, the cancer risk increased 2.4 fold.
• Fat-soluble vitamin E depletion, due to Xenical's fat-blocking action, raises the risk of colon cancer even further.
• Recorded adverse reactions to Xenical include: 39 cases of increased abnormal blood thinning, several cases of bleeding episodes, 10 hospitalizations (four with life-threatening reactions), and one death.
• Dangerous thinning of the blood can occur in people taking drugs like Warfarin (an anti-coagulant), or who suffer from vitamin K deficiency.
Alli, meanwhile, which blocks the absorption of about 25 percent of consumed fat, can also result in loose stools, hard-to-control bowel movements, and gas with an oily discharge. The manufacturer calls these “treatment effects.”
These are some serious, not to mention embarrassing, risks all for a very small benefit. Though these drugs may help you lose weight, it will likely be only a few pounds more than you would lose with diet and exercise alone.
In fact, the Mayo Clinic reported the average weight loss for prescription-strength Xenical is only about 6 pounds greater than diet and exercise alone after one year. Since Alli is half the strength of Xenical, they reasoned Alli could conceivably result in an average of just 3 extra pounds lost in a year.
The REAL Way to Lose Weight
How to lose weight safely and effectively is an urgent and relevant issue given that two-thirds of the U.S. population is already overweight, and a recent study found it’s possible that nearly every American adult could be overweight by 2048.
Of course, maintaining a healthy body weight is about so much more than looking good in a bikini -- it’s about having more energy, fighting disease, protecting your heart and, above all else, choosing a lifestyle that will support your entire body and your health.
A drug simply will not provide these benefits, and neither will a crash diet.
Dieting is actually a consistent predictor of future weight gain. On any given diet, people initially lose 5 percent to 10 percent of their weight, but then they gain it back, often with some additional pounds as well.
This is because they’re not addressing two key aspects to weight loss: emotions and your nutritional type.
As anyone who’s ever tried to lose weight knows, making up your mind to do it is half the battle (in fact, it’s probably 99 percent of the battle for many).
Nip emotional eating in the bud by dealing with your feelings and creating a new relationship with food. Release self-sabotaging behaviors like avoiding exercise.
That is one step in the weight-loss equation. From there, it’s just a matter of changing your lifestyle in the following ways:
1. Tailor your diet to your nutritional type. These are the foods that are right for your biochemistry, and these are the foods that will push your body toward its ideal weight. (By the way, these foods may be high in fat, high in carbs, heavy on protein or heavy on veggies, it all depends on YOU).
Eating right for your nutritional type is not a “diet.” In fact, if you still feel hungry after eating you are definitely not eating according to your nutritional type. There is no food deprivation, no counting calories and definitely no starving yourself -- just eating plenty of healthy foods that are right for you.
2. View exercise as a drug. When you’re trying to lose weight, a casual walk here and there is not going to cut it. Many studies find that exercising for one hour, five days a week is actually needed, and I tend to agree with that. Sometimes you may even need up to 90 minutes of aerobic activity every day.
There is also strong compelling evidence that strength training and high-intensity anaerobic interval training may be especially effective for weight loss.
So there you have it: eat right, exercise, and address your emotions -- and that is typically all it takes.
FDA Warns Consumers about Weight Loss Products
diet pill, weight loss productsThe FDA has issued a new alert about weight loss products tainted by potentially dangerous ingredients. Many of the products claim to be "natural" or "herbal" but include drugs, sometimes in very high doses.
Drugs found in weight loss products include:
• Sibutramine (a controlled substance)
• Phenytoin (an anti-seizure medication)
• Phenolphthalein (a solution used in chemical experiments and a suspected cancer-causing agent)
• Bumetanide (a diuretic)
Altogether, the FDA has found 72 tainted weight loss products since it first brought the issue to public attention last December.
Sources:
Chicago Tribune March 20, 2009
Dr. Mercola''s Comments
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
It’s a tempting proposition for many. Take a diet pill, then sit back and relax as the pounds melt away. For the 15 percent of American adults who say they’ve used weight-loss supplements, many probably thought “why not”? What could they lose other than the money to buy them and possibly some extra pounds?
As it turns out, you could lose quite a bit, including your health, if you take many of these weight-loss supplements.
So far the FDA has identified 72 diet pills -- most of them imported from China -- that are tainted with hidden and potentially dangerous drugs and chemicals.
You can view a full list of the contaminated products on the FDA’s Web site. Many of them claim to be “natural” or “herbal” yet contain chemicals and drugs such as:
• Cetilistat: an experimental obesity drug that can cause serious health risks in certain populations.
• Fenproporex: a stimulant not approved for marketing in the United States, which can cause increased blood pressure, uncontrollable movements or shaking, palpitations, arrhythmia and possibly sudden death.
• Fluoxetine: the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Prozac, a prescription antidepressant, which can increase the risk of suicidal thinking and suicide in children, adolescents, and young adults.
• Furosemide: the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Lasix, a potent diuretic that can cause profound dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, leading to dehydration, seizures, GI problems, kidney damage, lethargy, collapse and coma.
• Rimonabant: the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Zimulti, which has not been approved in the United States because of increased risk of neurological and psychiatric side effects -- seizures, depression, anxiety, insomnia, aggressiveness, and suicidal thoughts among patients.
All of the tainted weight loss supplements on the list are available over-the-counter without a prescription and are not FDA-approved, but please don’t misconstrue this information. While this new finding underscores the importance of knowing where your supplements (whether for weight loss or any other purpose) come from, diet pills that are FDA-approved or available by prescription have also been linked to serious side effects.
The Risks of “Approved” Diet Pills
Two of the most well-known diet drugs in the United States are Xenical, a prescription-only drug, and its non-prescription version Alli. Unpublished studies on Xenical have revealed concerning data, including:
• Xenical increases the precursor markers to colon cancer by 60 percent in rats.
• When eating a high- fat diet and taking Xenical, the cancer risk increased 2.4 fold.
• Fat-soluble vitamin E depletion, due to Xenical's fat-blocking action, raises the risk of colon cancer even further.
• Recorded adverse reactions to Xenical include: 39 cases of increased abnormal blood thinning, several cases of bleeding episodes, 10 hospitalizations (four with life-threatening reactions), and one death.
• Dangerous thinning of the blood can occur in people taking drugs like Warfarin (an anti-coagulant), or who suffer from vitamin K deficiency.
Alli, meanwhile, which blocks the absorption of about 25 percent of consumed fat, can also result in loose stools, hard-to-control bowel movements, and gas with an oily discharge. The manufacturer calls these “treatment effects.”
These are some serious, not to mention embarrassing, risks all for a very small benefit. Though these drugs may help you lose weight, it will likely be only a few pounds more than you would lose with diet and exercise alone.
In fact, the Mayo Clinic reported the average weight loss for prescription-strength Xenical is only about 6 pounds greater than diet and exercise alone after one year. Since Alli is half the strength of Xenical, they reasoned Alli could conceivably result in an average of just 3 extra pounds lost in a year.
The REAL Way to Lose Weight
How to lose weight safely and effectively is an urgent and relevant issue given that two-thirds of the U.S. population is already overweight, and a recent study found it’s possible that nearly every American adult could be overweight by 2048.
Of course, maintaining a healthy body weight is about so much more than looking good in a bikini -- it’s about having more energy, fighting disease, protecting your heart and, above all else, choosing a lifestyle that will support your entire body and your health.
A drug simply will not provide these benefits, and neither will a crash diet.
Dieting is actually a consistent predictor of future weight gain. On any given diet, people initially lose 5 percent to 10 percent of their weight, but then they gain it back, often with some additional pounds as well.
This is because they’re not addressing two key aspects to weight loss: emotions and your nutritional type.
As anyone who’s ever tried to lose weight knows, making up your mind to do it is half the battle (in fact, it’s probably 99 percent of the battle for many).
Nip emotional eating in the bud by dealing with your feelings and creating a new relationship with food. Release self-sabotaging behaviors like avoiding exercise.
That is one step in the weight-loss equation. From there, it’s just a matter of changing your lifestyle in the following ways:
1. Tailor your diet to your nutritional type. These are the foods that are right for your biochemistry, and these are the foods that will push your body toward its ideal weight. (By the way, these foods may be high in fat, high in carbs, heavy on protein or heavy on veggies, it all depends on YOU).
Eating right for your nutritional type is not a “diet.” In fact, if you still feel hungry after eating you are definitely not eating according to your nutritional type. There is no food deprivation, no counting calories and definitely no starving yourself -- just eating plenty of healthy foods that are right for you.
2. View exercise as a drug. When you’re trying to lose weight, a casual walk here and there is not going to cut it. Many studies find that exercising for one hour, five days a week is actually needed, and I tend to agree with that. Sometimes you may even need up to 90 minutes of aerobic activity every day.
There is also strong compelling evidence that strength training and high-intensity anaerobic interval training may be especially effective for weight loss.
So there you have it: eat right, exercise, and address your emotions -- and that is typically all it takes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)