White Rabbits and other things

I can't help it but whenever I see any type of information or website related to weight loss pills I think of White Rabbit by then Jefferson Airplane. It's one of those automatic associations that those of a younger generation probably don't make. When I found the below YouTube of the song, the creator did a really nice job. So, a musical flash back moment...

Check for side effects before you pop that pill

Recently I focused on a personal experience with a combination of two medications prescribed by my doctor. Yet people take diet pills and other supplements on a regular basis without checking to see if there will be a drug interaction or a side effect. Many times they don't take the often repeated advice of checking with their health professional or at least their pharmacist or do research to check to see what the side effects of diet pills could be for them. The internet is a great way to do that, it doesn't replace sound medical advice, but as I've learned, at times it can be more trustworthy since medicine is not always foolproof...

Should you take vitamins?

Your first response may be, "no - I don't need to take vitamins I eat a healthy diet" but statistically chances are you don't. The USDA has reported only 10 percent of Americans actually eat a good diet. One cited example, only 17 percent of people consume the recommended number of servings of fruit per day.

For women it's especially an issue, the USDA’s Continuing Survey of Food Intakes
by Individuals (CSFII) revealed adult females failed to meet the recommended daily intake (RDA) for five nutrients: calcium, vitamin E, vitamin B6, magnesium and zinc.

I've been monitoring my diet, which has led me to discover how difficult it is to try to increase B6, as an example, through food sources.

Decreasing access to the sun and winter creating lack of Vitamin D

A recent study suggests pregnant women are not getting enough vitamin D, even when taking pregnancy vitamins. Those most at risk are women with darker skin, those living in northern regions during the winter, and those who tend to cover up their skin.

In general, vitamin D levels seem to have been dropping in recent years, theresearchers from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine (UCDSM) and Massachusetts General Hospital found. It was suggested this might be due to a dip in outdoor activity. Vitamin D deficiency in the first years of life is associated with a higher risk for respiratory infection and childhood wheezing, while adults who lack an adequate supply bear a greater risk for heart disease and certain cancers.

Testing and supplementation could be the answer to the apparent problem, a simple blood test indicates the level of vitamin D and the increase in vitamin D has to be compared with the risks from excessive vitamin D intake.

With the recent focus on the sun being a danger, it was interesting to note the research on vitamin D...

Supplementally...

While the economy may be not doing well in some areas, when it comes to diet products, that market seems to be still doing well, at least from an advertising/marketing standpoint, all you need to see this is to see how many ads there are out there for what is the best fat burning supplement. The diet industry is a multi-million dollar one that appears to be still doing fairly well despite the downturns other industries are facing. It was estimated several years ago to be a 100 billion dollar industry...

Do you read before you buy?

Are you the type of person that buys products on impulse? Many are, they'll see a product and buy it without doing any research at all. I recommend research, especially if it is a diet product. It's easy to find reviews for some of the popular products out there, like a xenadrine rfa x review which can provide helpful information. I also recommend checking ingredients and prices, as well as reading the fine print. Many of these products claim to have a money back guarantee, but the actual shipping and handling charges are set higher because they are not refundable.

Even if you do your research a product may not give you the desired results so, take a few moments, do your homework, your pocket book will thank you...

More to ponder...

I admit I'm out of touch when it comes to what the stars claim they use to lose weight, so when I saw the words, quick trim fast cleanse I thought of a quick shave for men and a fast cleaning razor. Imagine my surprise when I learned it's a weight loss product touted by Kim Kardashian. The cleanse part is supposed mean the much touted (cue ominous music) "colon cleaning" -- either way some have raised concerns about the product and pointed out it's basically just a diuretic which is a problem with quite a few diet products, it may help you lose those first few pounds, which may be good for the ego temporarily until the reality sets in that you've just lost some of your body's water weight...

Unless you opt for a surgical procedure, there no magic potions when it comes to losing weight...

What would be an unnatural fat burner?

Sometimes words/products make me think, let's say as an example it's popular to tout different types of natural fat burner yet, they don't call ones that are not from nature, "unnatural fat burners" -- what if they did? Would visions of witchcraft dance in your heads? Some magical unnatural presence appears to make the fat go *poof*? Ancient shamans appearing at your doorstep to make the fat go away?

As I ponder that, I also ponder why it is whenever I write about any type of diet or fat burning product I'm always hungry for something totally not a diet food...

Burn baby burn...

Whenever I see anything related to fat burners or fat burner pills, I can't help hearing "Burn baby burn" -- yes, a flash back to my disco days. Which then of course makes me think of the rest of the song, as I can hear it my head and sometimes? It creates moments of chair dancing, which probably does burn some fat -- if I did it long enough (smile). So, to make sure the song is now stuck in your head too? The video is below...See if you can resist the power of disco...

Sometimes I get tired of politics...

Last week I was fighting this virus/cold/flu whatever it is bug that's gone through some of my family and friends, I also was going through one of those periods where I was really tired of politics. It seems as if it's a never ending circle at times where so little is accomplished and so much is unnecessary. So, I could have focused on the latest hot discussion in my house as to where to buy weight loss pills, which considering I had little appetite, wasn't appetizing...Or? I could have let myself get lured into Facebook games, something I had avoided.

It started out so simply, one of my daughter's telling me she needed my help in Sorority Life because she didn't have enough "house members" and was constantly getting beaten up by other sorority houses. All I had to do was join she said, I didn't have to play. So, after being harassed/begged/pleaded with I joined and named my character "ErinForcedMe" -- then I started playing. The downside is not that it's not fun, it is fun, but the energy given is really low, personally I think it's designed to make you either pay for more energy to complete the levels, or to do those silly click ad things where you have to go through 25 pages of junk clicking "no" "No" "NO" as well as to promote you playing other games while you are waiting so you can be tempted to buy more energy points or click on the silly click ads...

I have however discovered that it is fun to "ice" or "whack" people in Mafia Wars, much to the surprise of some of my family and friends...

Medifast structure works for some...

The Medifast Diet program’s concept is a basic one. Frequent small meals with high levels of protein and low levels of carbohydrates put your body into a state called ketosis. With the frequent meals you have less of a chance of feeling hungry and breaking the diet.

Originally, Medifast was only available through physicians, that's where the name came from, now they can be bought on line and in stores with it easy to find Medifast discount codes to reduce the cost. The basic plan, called the 5 and 1 Plan, involves using Medifast’s meal replacements for five daily meals and consuming one main "lean and green" meal you prepare yourself that consists of a protein source and lots of vegetables.

Ramadan begins in the US...and my house...

No, I have not converted, I am still a Roman Catholic but one of my daughters is more interested in Islam and my youngest, never being one to be left out of anything is also practicing Ramadan this year which in the US began today. I have to admit the first day of Ramadan was profitable for me, because to take her mind off of not being able to eat or drink anything until sunset (8:24 pm - yes they knew on the dot) she decided to clean. My kitchen is now spotless and totally re-organized.

Ramadan also takes the topic of diets and diet pills one that's not discussed at all. What's being discussed is will the youngest make it, how many days before she breaks and decides that type of fasting is not for her. She kept opening the fridge and looking today, considering it's only day one? I'm not sure she'll make it until September 19th...

The weight loss struggle...

Some of my family and some of my friends have struggled off and on with weight loss, and unfortunately it's not quite a simple for them as to click here for weight loss supplements, they've tried most of them with limited success. It's frustrating for them, just as it's frustrating for many people in the same situation. Part of the frustration is not seeing fast enough progress, but the weight didn't appear over night, it won't go away overnight...

A musical memory moment...

I'm one of those people that when a word or phrase comes into my head I think of a song, or song lyrics. Years ago before YouTube, I'd have to go through my albums, cassettes, etc., to find the song that was now in my head thanks to a word association. Take as an example if I came across the term, weight loss supplements, I would think about the lyrics from "White Rabbit":

one pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small...

Now all I have to do is go to YouTube, search for the song, find a nice rendition of it and, voila...

The story of the juicer diet...

I love my husband (well most times) and I love my children (most times) but at times the interesting side dramas and how it creates more work for me can be either the source of frustration or I can decide it can be a source of humor. The juicer diet is one of those stories where the choice is up to me and I've opted to laugh rather than to throw things at them.

My fourth oldest daughter decided she wanted to go on this juicer diet and she was going to go on it with my husband. This is after several different types of diets and a diet pill or two. This of course first required that a juicer must be purchased, because how could one juice without a juicer? Of course someone else might wonder if there were not other alternatives that did not require a over $50.00 juicer but that person would be scorned as "a person of no faith in the power of juicing."

The previously mentioned person of no faith in the power of juicing (PONFITPOJ) (you can guess who that is) noticed that the daughter dropped out of the juicing diet rather quickly, in addition to discovering how much fruit and vegetables were required to make a small amount of juice. Not to mention how messy the whole juicer process was and despite the claims that the left over pulp could be used for breads and muffins...As the PONFITPOJ pointed out, the two dieters couldn't eat that stuff anyway as it was not on the juicer diet plan.

Now of course the juicer has sat there for 7 days without being used, though it is a pretty countertop decoration. The daughter has dropped the diet and the husband is trying to stick to a diet but is not using the juicer, he is instead actually eating the fruits and veggies which appears to not only be more filling but makes less of a mess for the PONFITPOJ to clean up.

This of course leads us to the moral of the story, the actual adventure was juicer than their diet...

Removing junk foods from schools does not eliminate the problem

There has been some blog coverage and some media coverage of the ten years of "no sugar" at Browns Mill Elementary School, yet that's really a misnomer because the school is not only not sugar free but there was much more to some of the changes that happened there than just focusing on removing junk food and no longer allowing birthday cupcakes, no cookies or ice cream.

While the CNN article points out:

The children in the cafeteria drink low-fat milk, shovel corn kernels on their sporks and munch on tuna sandwiches on wheat.

Most wheat breads contain sugar and corn? Corn while an enjoyable veggie for most kids does not contain a great deal of nutrients and the tuna? Even the federal government recommends young children not eat tuna on a frequent basis due to the mercury. It's interesting no one at CNN broached that topic. I'd also point out that some would suggest a soy milk would be preferable to low-fat cow's milk, from both a protein and a health factor.

It is important to teach healthy eating but it also does not have to be done in a way to make refined sugar seem the enemy, you can actually get more sugar from juices and other food items than making a mere cookie seem like it's something that children should not eat. To create a larger impact it also has to be encouraged at home and include exercise.

That is one part of what happens at this elementary school that is different from many, there is an actual hour long exercise period, that probably has done more to decrease behavior problems. Most elementary children both at home and at school have very limited access to physical activity. Some do not even get recess and do not have daily gym classes.

We can pretend that sugar and junk food is the enemy but the reality it is our lifestyles that have changed that have also increased the pounds, children who during my childhood days played outside for hours, running, jumping, bike riding, playing games now sit parked in front of a television or a computer for hours. While I think it's great that the ten years of this social experiment has gotten media coverage, I'd personally find it more beneficial if the focus was less on the "sugar free" claim and more on the actual real life changes as well as more information on the disciplinary numbers. All that is reported is the drop during the first six months, with new students coming in each year, it'd be interesting to learn how new students and each new kindergarten class responded to the changes in diet and exercise.

I'd also be interested in the cost factors, since that's not even mentioned. How much more does it cost per student lunch, does the school receive any additional governmental aid to meet it's food budget? Cost is a factor that most school districts struggle with in trying to provide student meals. A good majority of them do not have a large number of students that are served breakfast either, at Browns Mill Elementary School students are served both breakfast and lunch.

Perhaps it's more than nutritional choices...

We've heard quite a bit about Americans becoming fatter as a nation, some of that has been stated could be related to the economy as far as affordable fresh produce. While I don't discount the importance of a healthy diet, I also think for some people it's more than just their caloric intake. I came across a quote by a Dr. Martin Seligman, who is believed by many to be an authority on obesity, who said: "Nineteen out of twenty studies show that obese people consume no more calories each day than non-obese people. In one remarkable experiment, a group of very obese people dieted down to only 60 percent overweight and stayed there. They needed one hundred fewer calories a day to stay at 60 percent overweight than normal people needed to stay at a normal weight."

This is why many are turning to surgical procedures to help them with their weight loss and while many products out there like alli have appeared in the market place. It's because some have learned first hand that for them, it requires more than just a diet and at times increase exercise.

A no diet Thanksgiving...

This year will be a bit different of a Thanksgiving, this time none of my four daughters are on a diet, which always resulted in their wanting to eat some of their favorites yet trying to deprive themselves and me telling them that it was okay, that they could have a small amount of holiday food without their whole life crashing down before them and their diet being ruined or their needing to take diet pills even longer because of one family dinner...

So at least this year, no one will be saying, "MOM! Why did you make that, you know I can't eat that!"

:-)

Caffeine as a diet drug...

I remember years ago when I worked at a local gas station one of my co-workers was convinced that drinking diet pop heavy with caffeine would help her loose weight. It really didn't, as later studies have shown that even sugar free pop can make you gain wait with the way it metabolizes through your system. In other products that use caffeine, like Fenphedra it's stated that the addition of what some refer to as "a legal form of cocaine" which is what the Coca Cola company came up with when they had to stop using the "real thing" (Yes, ironic twist of a slogan) was caffeine, which now of course has been modified and has been used in a variety of diet pill formulations for many years.

Does it work? While most diet products contain more than just caffeine, here is what researchers say about caffeine alone as a diet product:

Here's what researchers have found:

* Caffeine may act as an appetite suppressant.
* Caffeine may increase your body's ability to burn calories.
* Caffeine acts as a diuretic, this water loss may temporarily decrease your body weight.

One good thing about not having a car...

In an effort to look at the brighter side of life, there is an advantage to not having a car, several actually, first I walk more so that helps make sure I don't have to worry about any type of a weight loss program. Secondly, when you walk to the store, you buy less, so impulse purchase items become less desirable when you realize you only want to carry so many bags either all the way home or to the bus stop, depending on which store I head off to.

Another thing is we are spending less, since I'm walking more than I am taking the bus, and buying less, we are definitely spending less on gasoline and less on grocery items. Which means, we'll save more faster for a replacement car.