Category Archives: Diet And Food

Meg Evans, in red, lost 48 pounds her first year on Qsymia and another two pounds the second year.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- A new diet drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July is now available for obese and at-risk overweight patients. The oral medication Qsymia can only be obtained with a doctor's prescription.

Qsymia (pronounced kyoo-SIM-ee-uh) is the second diet drug approved this year. The FDA approved a weight-loss pill called Belviq on June 27.

Patients in clinical trials experienced more dramatic weight loss with Qsymia than with Belviq. On Qsymia, patients went from an average 227 pounds to 204 pounds; on Belviq, the average weight dropped from 220 to 207.

Qsymia had been known as Qnexa until its approval. The FDA asked the company to change the name to avoid confusion with another drug on the market, according to the company.

Health care costs to bulge along with U.S. waistlines

Some consumer advocates worry that the medication's weight loss comes with a price. Some patients in the clinical trial suffered an increased heart rate and a condition called metabolic acidosis, which can lead to hyperventilation, fatigue and anorexia.

Concerns have also been raised about birth defects. One of the ingredients in Qsymia is topiramate, an anti-convulsant that has been linked to birth defects such as cleft lip and cleft palate in babies born to women who have taken it for migraines or seizures. Qsymia's other ingredient is phentermine, an appetite suppressant.

"Our belief is that women will be invited (through) compelling advertising and marketing messages to experiment on themselves with a drug that has some effectiveness with healthy weight loss but possible serious risks," said Cindy Pearson, executive director of the National Women's Health Network.

See the original post here:
FDA-approved diet drug Qsymia now available with prescription

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 14, 2012

Diet Doc joins the fast-growing Telehealth Network using their medical hCG diet weight loss diet program that is proven to be effective according to studies.

Diet Doc makes weight management even easier by integrating telehealth program helping people across the country with the Diet Doc medical weight loss program.

Over the years, the obesity epidemic has been increasingly been known as the largest public health crisis in the U.S. One of the biggest problems in helping those who are overweight and on the road to obesity is accessibility to proper health care. Large corporations and even the government are now taking part in a new healthcare initiative called telehealth. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, telehealth is defined as the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration. Technologies include videoconferencing, the internet, store-and-forward imaging, streaming media, and terrestrial and wireless communications. In other words, health services are now being offer over the phone or via internet applications.

Diet Doc is one of the first weight loss companies to join this new revolution in healthcare. Their team of doctors are now meeting with patients from across the country via skype and other internet applications for weight loss consultations. After a through evaluation, a nutritionist then creates a diet plan that is personalized for each patient. A weekly progress call, which takes the place of follow-up visits to the clinic, is made by a weight loss diet coach who is assigned to a patient. We found that our telehealth program for weight loss is even more effective than our in-person consultations because it saves people the time and effort to physically come into a clinic where wait times can be long. Our patients also feel that they get more personalized attention because our staff is more easily accessible over the phone or through e-mail, says Dr. Rao, Medical Director for Diet Doc.

Telehealth is currently on the rise and several studies are being conducted on its effectiveness. One study published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine found that subjects who took part in a traditional weight loss program, which met in-person with a dietician, and the telehealth group were just as effective. The only difference was that individuals in the telehealth group reported that their program was easier and more convenient that a traditional in-person weight loss program.

Diet Doc originally tested the concept of telehealth two years ago, offering weight loss consultations via Skype as well as in one of their 30 clinics. Since its recent recognition by the medical community and even the government as a means for healthcare, they decided to created an official medical telehealth weight loss program for their patients. Due to the growing success of our modified hCG diet, patients from various cities wanted to give our program a try but werent near one of our clinics. We decided to offer weight loss consultations over the phone and found that patients had the same success rate as those who went to the clinic. Now we are shifting our focus on the growing possibilities that teleheath has, says Julie Wright, Founder and CEO for Diet Doc. Theyve also created a comprehensive online health evaluation that gives symptom-based results and makes recommendations on which supplements will benefit the patient most. We are transitioning into a technology-based weight loss program that we find has little to no-room for human error. Our web-based health questionnaire as well as Skype weight loss consultations are a great way to get in touch with anyone, anywhere. We hope to be able to reach people across the world to help them achieve their weight goals and get to a healthy place, says Wright.

See more here:
Diet Doc Joins the Fast-Growing Telehealth Network Using their Medical hCG Weight Loss Diet Program that is Proven to ...

Columbia, SC (PRWEB) September 14, 2012

Diet Doc announces medical weight management program inspired by Dr. Oz Diet that gives healthy and fast weight loss results, naturally. Diet Doc creates a new doctor designed diet program that helps people lose weight fast. Diet Doc Dieters report an average of 30 pounds of weight loss per month.

Dr. Oz is known as Americas doctor because he covers a wide-range of health topics that anyone can relate to. He recently did an interview with People magazine to share his eating habits that helps him stay healthy. He understands the mentality behind the millions of people who enjoy the SAD (standard American diet) because he was once a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Dr. Ozs awakening came during his teenage years stating by sixth grade, I was so slow I wasnt even picked for kickball anymore. Even intellectually I wasnt feeling quick. He has since reformed his diet to a more simple one that helps him function at the top of his game. Now, with over 1.2 million viewers of his nationally syndicated talk show, he is working to encourage Americans to follow his lead. He says most of America is living at 20 percent of who they could be. I want to get everyone to appreciate what living at 90 percent could be like. Oz advises people to always have healthy options like fresh fruit and vegetables on hand to avoid turning to junk foods for snacks. He also doesnt eat much meat saying I'm 90 percent vegetarian.

Diet Doc created a new a diet plan that is similar to the Dr. Oz diet that is prescribed by a doctor and created by a nutritionist. The diet consists of the same foods that is found in Ozs own pantry such as lean proteins, green leafy vegetables and fibrous fruits. The diet allows a healthy and manageable amount of calories and is proven to be easy to follow. Most will find that transitioning into a healthy diet is difficult but Diet Doc provides the essential support system that makes and easy fool-proof way to ensure weight loss success. Each of their patients are assigned a weight loss counselor who follows up with a weekly progress call. They also provide a number of tools that will help create an awareness of eating habits.

The hCG diet, which was also reviewed and approved by Dr. Oz, has been around for over 50 years. Oz released a report on the diet which stated that subjects in the hCG group lost more weight that the placebo group and preserved more muscle, that is essential to metabolism and overall weight loss, proving that hCG helps someone lose weight differently and better than diet alone because it spares muscle.

Diet Doc offers their hCG by prescription only, making them one of the only legit providers in the U.S. he only company that uses a specially formulated hCG that is enhanced with vitamin B-12. They also only offer diet plans, weight loss supplements and vitamins that have been scientifically proven to be safe and effective. This weight loss program is known to help dieters lose weight fast, some claiming to lose up to one pound a day. Inspired by the Dr. Oz diet, Diet Docs hCG diet is proven to be a natural, safe and effective way to lose weight.

Read this article:
Diet Doc Announces Medical Weight Management Program Inspired by Dr. Oz Diet that Gives Healthy and Fast Weight Loss ...

Timing of food consumption takes precedence over the amount of fat contained in the food This, scientists claim, leads to improved metabolism and helping to prevent obesity

By Katy Winter

PUBLISHED: 06:38 EST, 13 September 2012 | UPDATED: 06:39 EST, 13 September 2012

It's welcome news for anyone who has ever tried to shift a few pounds.

Eating a high fat diet can actually prevent obesity and improve your metabolism, according to a study.

After tests on mice, researchers found eating a high fat diet on a fixed schedule - eating at the same time for the same length of time each day - leads to a reduction in body weight and a unique metabolism.

Down to timing: Eating a high fat diet can actually prevent obesity and improve your metabolism, according to a study

Previous research has revealed disrupting mammals daily rhythms, or feeding them a high fat diet, disrupts metabolism and leads to obesity.

However, scientists say eating on a schedule leads to a metabolism where ingested fats are not stored, but used for energy at times when food is not available.

And improving metabolism through careful scheduling of meals, without limiting the amount of food, could be used to prevent obesity in people.

Visit link:
Eating a high fat diet can 'prevent obesity and improve your metabolism'

Published: Sept. 12, 2012 at 1:06 AM

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A diet that raises estrogen levels during pregnancy may raise breast cancer risk in daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters, U.S. researchers say.

Yue "Joseph" Wang of the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington and colleagues at Georgetown University said pregnant rats on a diet supplemented with synthetic estrogen or with fat -- which increases estrogen levels -- produce ensuing generations of daughters that appear to be healthy but harbor a greater risk for mammary cancer.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, said although the findings have not yet been validated in humans, the study shows that environmental damage may be passed from one generation to the next not via genetic mutations, but through "epigenetic" alterations that influence how genomic information is decoded.

"We have shown for the first time that altered DNA methylations modulated by specific diet in normal development are heritable and transgenerational," Wang said in a statement.

Virginia Tech researchers developed mathematical models and machine-learning techniques to analyze the changes in DNA methylation -- allowing cells with the same genome to perform different functions by adding chemical groups to DNA to turn some genes on and some genes off -- status in the descending daughters to understand how increased cancer risk is transmitted without genetic mutation.

"Ultimately, it might be possible to undo or prevent this harmful methylation and decrease the risk of breast cancer," Wang said.

Original post:
Mom's diet may up daughter's cancer risk

ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2012) New research from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem shows that a carefully scheduled high-fat diet can lead to a reduction in body weight and a unique metabolism in which ingested fats are not stored, but rather used for energy at times when no food is available.

The research was conducted by Prof. Oren Froy along with Prof. Zecharia Madar, research student Yoni Genzer and research fellow Dr. Hadas Sherman at the Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, at the Hebrew University's Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. The results were published in The FASEB Journal under the title "Timed high-fat diet resets circadian metabolism and prevents obesity".

Previous research has established that disrupting mammals' daily rhythms, or feeding them a high-fat diet, disrupts metabolism and leads to obesity. The researchers wanted to determine the effect of combining a high-fat diet with long-term feeding on a fixed schedule. They hypothesized that careful scheduling of meals would regulate the biological clock and reduce the effects of a high-fat diet that, under normal circumstances, would lead to obesity.

For 18 weeks they fed a group of mice a high-fat diet on a fixed schedule (eating at the same time and for the same length of time every day). They compared these mice to three control groups: one that ate a low-fat diet on a fixed schedule, one that ate an unscheduled low-fat diet (in the quantity and frequency of its choosing), and one that ate an unscheduled high-fat diet.

All four groups of mice gained weight throughout the experiment, with a nal body weight greater in the group that ate an unscheduled high-fat diet.

The mice on the scheduled high-fat diet had a lower final body weight than the mice eating an unscheduled high-fat diet. But surprisingly, the mice on the scheduled high-fat diet also had a lower final body weight than the mice that ate an unscheduled low-fat diet, even though both groups consumed the same amount of calories.

In addition, the mice on the scheduled high-fat diet exhibited a unique metabolic state in which the fats they ingested were not stored, but rather utilized for energy at times when no food was available, such as between meals.

According to Prof. Froy, "Our research shows that the timing of food consumption takes precedence over the amount of fat in the diet, leading to improved metabolism and helping to prevent obesity. Improving metabolism through the careful scheduling of meals, without limiting the content of the daily menu, could be used as a therapeutic tool to prevent obesity in humans."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Original post:
A carefully scheduled high-fat diet resets metabolism and prevents obesity, researchers find

Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) September 11, 2012

Diet Doc announces a new line of gluten-free, low-glycemic diet foods that compliment their modified hCG weight loss diet program.

Diet Doc offers a new line of gluten-free diet foods that are low on the glycemic index chart as well as offering patients a more convenient approach when following the ketogenic diet at Diet Doc. According to an in-house survey of over 32,000 patients, Diet Doc's ketogenic diet results in faster weight loss than previous diets.

Diet Doc is now offering a new line of diet foods to complement their hCG weight loss program. This offering comes in response to the high demand of their program and found that creating their own diet foods will give their patients more food variety as well as convenience. Following a customized and medically-supervised ketogenic diet plan, patients are given a restricted yet varietal list of lean proteins, fruits and vegetables. The list of foods can be combined using a number of healthy diet recipes found in their hCG diet cookbook. Healthy fats like MCT oil, derived from the coconut, are strongly recommended as the main source of fat for cooking because it is easily digested and metabolized for energy than other types of fat. The majority of the diet recipes in our hCG cookbook are really simple to make but our pre-made diet foods were really made for convenience. Lets face it, its hard for most people to manage their time, especially those with a job and a family to take of, say Julie Wright, Founder and CEO of Diet Doc.

Diet Docs hCG weight loss program is a modified version of the original hCG diet that was created in the 1950s by Dr. Simeons. The diet plan, explained in Simeons book Pounds and Inches, was an overnight success due to its effectiveness in creating fast weight loss results in those who tried the program. However, critics were quick to attribute the weight loss only to the daily intake of only 500 calories, citing it as dangerously low. Diet Doc has since modified their diet plan to make it healthy and more manageable. Their addition of almost double the amount of daily calories as well as adding more foods to the diet plan made their version of this half-century old weight loss program a success. They also found that the hCG hormone injections played a key role in the overall weight loss by resetting the hypothalamus, which is a part of the brain that regulates hormone function as well as regulating appetite, among other things. A combination of hCG treatments with a ketogenic diet will put the body into a state of ketosis, where the body uses stored fat as a source of energy, producing fast weight loss results. This naturally occurring process of ketosis is not normal among people that are especially overweight due to poor diet and lack of exercise which prevents the body from functioning normally.

Diet Docs addition of gluten-free, low-glycemic diet foods are also designed to help patients deal with emotion-driven eating habits. This hard-to-break habit puts people in a situation of eating bad foods that can also be associated with comfort. Diet Docs foods can satisfy these cravings but in a healthy way, using healthy ingredients. Theyve created a line of dessert bars with flavors like carrot cake and chocolate banana that also contain some organic ingredients. Protein shakes, dressings, marinades, noodles and soups are also offered and can easily be converted into meals or as snacks. Because our diet food is low-glycemic and mostly gluten-free, even people with a number of health conditions, like diabetes for example, can benefit from it. We chose products that can be enjoyed by anyone, weather they are on our diet or just want to maintain good health, says Wright.

See the original post:
Diet Doc Announces New Line of Gluten-Free, Low-Glycemic Diet Foods that Compliment their Modified hCG Weight Loss ...

Scientific studies suggest you should probably lay off the sugar-packed Big Gulp.

But what about their zero-calorie counterparts?

There is this cultural lore that has people thinking that diet soda is whats really bad for you and that the other stuff (sugar-sweetened soda) isnt as bad, said Harold Goldstein of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy. Worries include that artificially sweetened drinks will cause cancer or diabetes.

Though most science dissuades drinking regular soda, diet sodas comparatively ambiguous research has not completely dispelled the lore.

Here are answers, some rather nuanced, to common questions about diet soda.

Is diet soda poisonous?

No, it wont poison you.

Most diet sodas are made with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, which are several hundred times sweeter than real sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. Because not much of these are needed, a diet soda can get away with negligible calories.

Artificial sweeteners have probably been the most intensively studied food ingredient ever, said Richard Mattes, professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue University. Every panel has cleared them.

Does diet soda make me eat more?

See the original post here:
Is it OK to drink diet soda?

LONDON, Sept. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- If you're struggling to lose weight don't give up on the diet yet, new research suggests that one of the top tips to helping you lose weight may be as simple as just getting a new lunch buddy!

Research published in the British Journal of Nutrition by psychologists at the University of Birmingham monitored 100 women at a lunch buffet and found that people unconsciously mirrored eating habits of the people around them even if they were trying to lose weight.

They found when those around the women helped themselves to the fattening array of cocktail sausages, pasties and crisps, while avoiding vegetables, the women did the same. On the contrary when they chose healthier items, the women did also consuming around 200 fewer calories.

Dr Eric Robinson, a psychologist at the University of Birmingham, said: "We found that pairing people with unhealthy eating partners reduced the amount of healthy food they were eating. They tended to pick the foods that were high in calories".

Therefore it is thought that recognising this effect could help people who are trying to diet and lose weight to avoid being influenced by others.

Caron Leckie, nutritionist at Diet Chef says "The research reflects the effect of social influence on our eating habits it can be harder to stick to a diet, choose the better options and lose weight if everyone around you is doing the opposite. It can be a good idea to make sure when you start your diet that someone close to you is there also as a dieting buddy or for support on your weight loss plan".

Diet Chef carefully counts the calories of all meals so dieters on the plan will be averaging less than 1,200 calories per day. The daily menu allows you to get delicious diet food delivered, as well as offering a tasty and varied, healthy balanced plan encouraging dieters to lose weight at a healthy pace.

Those on the diet looking to check their own progress can do so using the weight loss calculator as well as sharing their weight loss success stories via the website or Diet Chef social media channels.

Visit the website: http://www.dietchef.co.uk Become a fan: http://www.facebook.com/DietChef Follow: http://www.twitter.com/dietchef

Press release submitted by online press release distribution service Submitpressrelease123.com

Here is the original post:
Diet Chef Reveals How Your Dinner Date Could Make You Fat

It's not only the models who aim to lose weight ahead of New York Fashion Week.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- New York Fashion Week is one of the fashion industry's biggest events of the year, the culmination of months of planning, organizing, schmoozing ... and dieting?

When it comes to the biannual fashion shows, which kick off Thursday, models aren't the only ones looking to drop a few pounds before hitting the tents. Some publicists, bloggers and fashion editors have been counting calories for weeks in anticipation of the week-long event, where to some, networking and being seen are just as important as the collections debuting on the runways.

Anyone who has tried to get in shape for a wedding or school reunion can relate to the pressure of wanting to look his or her best and reaching to achieve that goal with varying degrees of success.

Nutritionists say that limiting caloric intake in a compressed time frame can lead to nutrient deficiencies, causing decreased immune function, dry skin and loss of muscle or bone density, for starters. But in an industry that's all about image, it's a price many are willing to pay.

"Perception is reality in this industry, and unfortunately, you have to look the look to get the clients," said public relations specialist Keisha McCotry, who began her Fashion Week diet in July. She plans on attending Fashion Week to recruit designers for her firm, Prominence Marketing Group.

Throughout the summer, fashionistas from all corners of the industry have been tweeting with a blend of sarcasm and sincerity about plans to start, defer or defy a #NYFW diet.

"I'm thinking we should start our #NYFW diet tomorrow. What do you think?" tweeted DKNY PR GIRL, the online persona of fashion publicist extraordinaire Aliza Licht, senior vice president of global communications at Donna Karan International, on August 12.

She followed up with "#PRGirlDiet" regulations: "No non-purpose bread (ie bread baskets, pretzels, croutons) or candy/sugar. Basically anything fun. EXCEPT: frozen yogurt is ok."

See the original post:
The #NYFW diet: Part of the job?