Archive for » April 18th, 2012«

18 Apr 2012

New Analysis From Blue Health Intelligence(R) Highlights Crozer-Chester …


PHILADELPHIA, Apr 18, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) –
The Comprehensive Bariatric Surgery Program at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, a not-for-profit teaching hospital and Blue Distinction Center(R), was recently recognized as a top performing bariatric program for having one of the lowest rates of preventable avoidable complications (PACs) in the country. The Crozer program, which offers minimally invasive procedures like gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bands, demonstrated the best year-over-year performance in bariatric surgery based on Potentially Avoidable Complications (PAC) analysis conducted by Blue Health Intelligence (BHI(R)), the nation’s premier health intelligence resource, in collaboration with Independence Blue Cross and other participating Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.

To determine the best-performing facilities in bariatric surgery based on PAC analysis, 214 facilities were considered. During the three-year period that BHI looked at, Crozer experienced lower than average complications and exhibited excellent safety results, a low readmission rate and a competitive average cost of care. Crozer’s potentially avoidable complication rate was just 0.04 percent compared to a nationwide average of 6.7 percent.

“We’re very honored to have our program recognized for excellent clinical care,” says Leon Katz, M.D., F.A.C.S., medical director of the Comprehensive Bariatric Surgery Program. “Crozer’s bariatric surgery team is dedicated to helping people lose weight — and keep it off. Our friendly and experienced team works very hard to assist patients every step of the way, from nutrition counseling to support services after patients leave the medical center.”

According to BHI, executives and clinical staff at Crozer identified various key factors in the program’s success. For instance, the program design includes a team of dedicated staff and facility to address the unique needs of the patients, monthly safety committee meetings with an established high reliability culture, and clinical practice guidelines to drive increased quality. Ongoing patient support and interaction is another key factor to Crozer’s demonstrated success. Distribution of e-newsletters, patient satisfaction surveys, and mentoring teams also helped to keep patients actively engaged and knowledgeable.

Crozer also has been recognized by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association as a Blue Distinction Center for Bariatric Surgery. Blue Distinction is a national designation program, developed in collaboration with the medical community to recognize those facilities that demonstrate expertise in delivering quality specialty care — safely and efficiently.

“With access to a wealth of data and with professional relationships across the health care community, Independence Blue Cross is uniquely positioned to identify and promote best practices in clinical care,” says Richard Snyder, Chief Medical Officer at Independence Blue Cross. “We are pleased to contribute to BHI’s effective analytics by providing claims information needed for BHI’s analysis and comparison of leading bariatric programs across the country which can aid members when making decisions about their care. We have long supported physicians and hospitals in practicing evidence-based medicine and it is rewarding to see that Crozer Chester Medical Center has emerged as having a very high quality bariatric surgery program.”

“BHI’s analysis of Crozer-Chester Medical Center is an example of how BHI’s analytics can help transform the healthcare system by delivering data-driven information about healthcare trends and best practices resulting in healthier lives and affordable access to safe and effective care,” said Swati Abbott, BHI CEO. “BHI congratulates Crozer for its continued efforts in delivering safe, quality care to its patients.”

For more information about the Comprehensive Bariatric Surgery Program at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, visit
http://bariatricsurgery.crozerkeystone.org or call (610) 619-8450. The program invites anyone interested in learning more to attend one of its Surgical Weight Loss Educational Seminars and to register by phone or on the website.

About Crozer-Chester Medical Center

Crozer-Chester Medical Center is a 424-bed not-for-profit, tertiary-care teaching hospital in Upland, Pa. The medical center is part of the Crozer-Keystone Health System, the largest employer and health care provider in Delaware County, which is located west of Philadelphia. Crozer features the county’s only trauma and burn centers, a regional cancer center, a regional kidney transplant center, a Level III intensive care nursery and advanced outpatient, surgical and acute care services. For more information, visit
www.crozerkeystone.org .

About Independence Blue Cross

Independence Blue Cross is a leading health insurer in southeastern Pennsylvania. Nationwide, Independence Blue Cross and its affiliates provide coverage to nearly 3.1 million people. For 74 years, Independence Blue Cross has offered high-quality health care coverage tailored to meet the changing needs of members, employers, and health care professionals. Independence Blue Cross’s HMO and PPO health care plans have consistently received the highest ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Independence Blue Cross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Visit us at ibx.com. Fan us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter@ibx.

About Blue Health Intelligence(R)

?Blue Health Intelligence (BHI(R)) is the nation’s premiere health intelligence resource, delivering data-driven insights about healthcare trends and best practices, resulting in healthier lives and more affordable access to safe and effective care. BHI accesses healthcare claims data from more than 110 million individuals nationwide, collected over seven years, in a safe, HIPAA compliant and secure database. The resulting conformed, reliable data set has the broadest, deepest pool of integrated medical and pharmacy claims, reflecting medical utilization in every ZIP code. Blue Health Intelligence (BHI) is a trade name of Health Intelligence Company, LLC. BHI is an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.For more information, visit
http://www.bluehealthintelligence.com/ .

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire,
www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: Independence Blue Cross


        CONTACT: Crozer-Chester Contact:
        Grant Gegwich
        610-447-6316
        Grant.Gegwich@crozer.org
        Independence Blue Cross Contact:
        Karen Godlewski
        215-241-3113
        Karen.Godlewski@ibx.com
        BHI Contact:
        Kelly Miller
        202-626-4825
        Kelly.miller@bcbsa.com

(C) Copyright 2010 GlobeNewswire, Inc. All rights reserved.


Similar news:
Category: Weight loss plans  Tags: ,  Comments off
18 Apr 2012

The Joy Fit Club – Cookbook, Diet Plan & Inspiration

(HealthNewsDigest.com) – New York, NY — Millions of us face overwhelming challenges with food and weight that seem impossible to overcome. But Joy Bauer has found throughout her four-year series on TODAY and hundreds of success stories that the real solutions for weight issues are much simpler. Filled with motivational stories, satisfying recipes and strategic meal plans, THE JOY FIT CLUB: Cookbook, Diet Plan Inspiration (Wiley Hardcover; April 23, 2012; $27.99) offers powerful encouragement and real-world advice for reaching your healthiest, happiest weight.

Taking the TODAY series a step further, THE JOY FIT CLUB expands on the individuals featured so that viewers and readers alike can draw inspiration from their unique strategies – how they really coped on a day-to-day basis, how they overcame the obstacles on their long journeys, what they ate, where they found support, how they got back on track when they slipped up and how they overcame particular challenges. These practical personal insights on exercise, nutrition and overcoming setbacks are the ultimate takeaway lessons, in addition to Joy’s expert health advice, including:

Joy’s Winning Weight Loss Rules: 10 principals to live by that will help losers become winners. These rules are common to all successful dieters, regardless of how much weight they want to lose.

Tried-and-True Food Strategies: Joy’s 3-Week Meal Plan broken down into breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner made with a variety of delicious, nourishing and simply prepared ingredients.

Bonus Recipes from Joy’s Kitchen: In addition to recipes sprinkled throughout the book, Joy includes bonus recipes like Lemon-Ginger Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry, Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup, Sweet Sesame-Crusted Salmon and Eggplant Lasagna.

Featuring the personal stories of 30 courageous men and women who have lost 100, 200, even 300 pounds, THE JOY FIT CLUB represents a transformation in the way people view losing weight. After trying every quick-fix out there, these dieters didn’t want to fail again, and are proof that realistic and balanced eating and exercise plans work (now and for the long haul) if you have the right approach and the core motivation. Of the strategies common to her Joy Fit Club members, Joy identified the specific tactics that resulted in success every time – from A-list celebrities to soccer moms, as well as CEOs, young children, elite athletes and couch potatoes, “Joy’s Rules” have worked for tens of thousands of her personal clients to help them achieve their personal best.

Weight-loss principles often seem simple, but no single weight-loss solution works for everyone. THE JOY FIT CLUB serves to present a foundation of strategies to build on for weight loss, and thirty different maps to follow to get there; a unique approach that allows readers to see healthy principals and winning methods in action, so that they can find success as well.

ABOUT JOY BAUER:
Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN, is the long-time on-air diet and nutrition expert for NBC’s TODAY and the author of several New York Times bestselling books. She is also a monthly columnist for Woman’s Day magazine, as well as the exclusive nutritionist for the New York City Ballet. Learn more about her online diet program at www.JoyBauer.com.

ABOUT TODAY:
NBC News pioneered the morning news program when it launched TODAY in 1952 with Dave Garroway as host. The live broadcast provides the latest in domestic and international news, weather reports, and interviews with newsmakers from the worlds of politics, business, media, entertainment and sports. The program is unparalleled in its ratings dominance in the morning news arena, serving as America’s overwhelming favorite since 1995.

THE JOY FIT CLUB
Cookbook, Diet Plan Inspiration
Joy Bauer
Wiley Hardcover | April 23, 2012 | $27.99 | ISBN: 978-1-118-18139-3 | 288 pages

Wiley eBook | April 23, 2012 | $27.99 | ISBN: 978-1-118-28065-2 (epub); 978-1-118-28066-9(mobi)

###

For advertising and promotion on HealthNewsDigest.com please contact Mike McCurdy: tvmike13@HealthNewsDigest.com or 877-634-9180
HealthNewsDigest.com is syndicated worldwide, and our content is free to all media. www.HealthNewsDigest.com


Similar news:
Category: Natural diet plan  Tags: ,  Comments off
18 Apr 2012

Reasons your diet isn’t working

You’ve spent the last seven days putting in your best effort to lose a pound or two. But your weekly check-in with the scale reveals (again) that you can’t get your weight loss mojo in motion. The good news is that the problem probably isn’t your willpower. You may be making common mistakes that even inveterate dieters fall prey to. These are the surprising reasons your weight loss plan isn’t working. Get the facts and get back on track.

1. YOU AREN’T EATING ENOUGH: You may need to bump up your calories to stoke metabolism. When you dip below about 1,200 calories per day, not only are you not eating enough to get all your nutrients, but your body slows metabolism in order to hold on to precious calories, says Dr. Christine Gerbstadt, author of “The Doctor’s Detox Diet.” Also, if you skip meals to lose weight, your body could lose its ability to feel full. Blame evolution, which has designed our bodies to resist famine and not the buffet table. For example, if you skip breakfast, the body assumes food is scarce. You need a morning meal to let your body know it’s OK to burn calories. “Within 1 hour of waking, you should consume a 350- to 500-calorie breakfast, with 10 to 15 grams of protein and fiber to stoke the metabolic fire,” Dr. Gerbstadt says.

2. YOU REWARD YOURSELF WITH FOOD AFTER EXERCISE: Burning 300 calories during a workout is cause for celebration…but rewarding yourself with a high-calorie treat doesn’t add up to weight loss. You’re likely to overestimate how much the workout burned off and underestimate how much you ate. “Even if you’re just working out for well-being, you still have to keep calories in check,” says Heidi Skolnik, author of “Nutrient Timing for Peak Performance.”

3. YOU SLURP DIET DRINKS: Research suggests that diet drinks may backfire: The taste of something sweet without the calories can cause your body to hold on to calories as fat. In a 2011 study, diet-soda drinkers had a 178-percent greater increase in waist circumference over 10 years, compared with non-diet-soda drinkers. “Artificial sweeteners can actually raise your insulin levels and lower your blood sugar, which may stimulate hunger and move existing calories into storage in your fat cells,” says Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, one of the study’s coauthors. Plus, fake sweeteners may not quell a craving like real sugar can, because sugar triggers a longer dopamine release. So even after downing two Diet Cokes, you may still want the candy bar.

4. YOUR FRIENDS ARE FAT: Your chances of being overweight or obese increase half a percent with every friend in your network who is obese, finds a November 2010 study from Harvard. That more than adds up: Your chances of obesity double for every four obese friends you have, say researchers. Even if that friend lives thousands of miles away, your chances of gaining weight still go up, according to a 2007 New England Journal of Medicine study. That may be because your perception of being overweight changes _ living larger seems acceptable since the heavy person is a friend. (Interestingly, having an obese neighbor that you don’t know does not raise your risk.) Experts also think that a person’s lifestyle and behaviors can subconsciously rub off on those in the individual’s inner circle. But you don’t have to ditch overweight friends to lose weight. In fact, if you embark together on an exercise plan, you can increase your fun and calorie burn: Research from Oxford finds that exercising with friends as a team can actually make the agony of exertion less intense. The same hormones that are released during social bonding, endorphins, also help quell pain. And once a friend starts to lose weight, you have a greater chance of losing as well (the mechanisms work both ways).

5. YOU’VE ELIMINATED WINE: New research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that women who drank one to two glasses of wine daily gained less weight over 13 years, compared with those who did not drink alcohol _ 8 pounds versus 5.5 pounds, to be exact.

6. YOUR DIET ISN’T DIGITALLY ENHANCED: You may already know that writing down what you eat helps you automatically reduce your calorie intake, simply by making you aware of each bite. But did you know that using a digitized program or application with positive feedback can help you lose even more? A new study from the University of Pittsburgh finds that people who monitored their diet and exercise with a digital device that provided daily feedback lost more weight and stuck with their diet longer than those who used paper and pen. Not only that, but the high-tech group increased their fruit and veggie intake more than paper users. And you don’t have to log in daily or even weekly to benefit: One study found that dieters who recorded meals online just once a month were 3 times more likely to keep off pounds over 2 years, compared with those who did so less frequently.

7. YOU’VE GONE NO-CARB OR FAT-FREE: Cutting back markedly on any one food group _ say, carbs or fat _ can leave you short on the nutrients you need to stay energized: One study found that dieters low in calcium and vitamin C had higher odds of putting on belly fat. The trick is a varied diet that includes healthy fats and good carbs such as fruits. After all, the biggest reason low-carb diets backfire is that, for the vast majority of people, they aren’t sustainable over the long haul. It’s a rare soul who can pass up birthday cake and pasta dinners for a lifetime. And as with all diets, once you quit, you regain the weight you lost and (often) more. These fluctuations can make it an even bigger challenge to lose weight next time.

___

For more great tips, pick up a copy of Prevention magazine or visit www.prevention.com.

___

(c) 2012, Prevention magazine

Distributed by MCT Information Services

_____

TO SUBSCRIBE TO 50-PLUS

Items in the 50-Plus package are not included in your MCT News Service subscription. You can subscribe to the 50-Plus package or purchase the items a la carte on MCT Direct at www.mctdirect.com. To subscribe, please call Rick DeChantal at Tribune Media Services at (800) 245-6536 or rdechantal@tribune.com. Outside the United States, call Tribune Media Services International at +1-312-222-8682 or email tmsi@tribune.com.

_____

PHOTO (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099):


Similar news:
Category: Best diet plan  Tags: ,  Comments off
18 Apr 2012

Process behind Medi-Weightloss Clinics

JOHNSTON, R.I. (WPRI) – Sometimes, taking the first step inside the door to get help can be the hardest, but it can also be a life changing decision.

Martha Fontaine, from the Medi-Weightloss Clinics of Johnston , gave The Rhode Show an inside look at the physician-supervised, three-phase weight loss program that helped thousands of patients across the United States lose more than 2.1 million pounds.

“The program is designed into three phases, the acute is the first phase,” said Martha Fontaine, Office Manager at Medi-Weightloss Clinics of Johnston .

Patients begin their program with a 90-minute initial weight loss consultation with a physician.

“They’re actually going to Medi-Weightloss Clinics of Johnston to do a urinalysis, we do an EKG on the patient. We give them two vitamin injections; one is a B12 the other one is a B6-B1 combination.”

Patients continue to have weekly one on one consultations with medical professionals, where they discuss overall health and work on their nutrition plans.

“The first week is the strictest. It is strictly protein, after that we reintroduce fruits and vegetables for the patient,” explained Martha.

In addition to diabetes and cholesterol, obesity can also cause issues with depression.

“So just with losing the weight alone that helps patients feel better about themselves, get more active, and it helps with their depression,” said Meredith Gardiner, Physician Assistant at Medi-Weightloss Clinics of Johnston .

Being overweight can affect other aspects of your life.

“The other thing is, is it can affect your sex drive. A lot of people don’t realize that it can affect their intimacy. Especially in men, their testosterone levels can decrease,” added Meredith.

As patients get closer to their goal, they transition to the short term maintenance.

“And that’s where we would increase their calories more whole grains healthy carbs and they’re normally on that phase two to four weeks,” said Martha.

The third and final phase of the program is called wellness.

“And patients, they’ve done so well in the program they come in once a month just to check in and get on the scale and keep that weight off that’s what’s important,” continued Martha.

If you’re interested in giving Medi-Weightloss Clinics of Johnston a try, just give them a call.

They offer a 15-minute no charge consultation, where you can meet the staff, be shown around and get to know the program.

Copyright WPRI-12


Similar news:
Category: Weight loss plans  Tags: ,  Comments off
18 Apr 2012

Beat the summer – sleep well, eat well for glowing skin

New Delhi, April 18 — The summer may have been delayed in large parts of the country but is here finally and so are skin problems such as acne, rashes, sunburn and tanning. But all it takes to deal with them is a little hygiene, good sleep, lots of water and a healthy diet plan, say experts.

Healthy skin reflects overall health and so it is important to take care of it rather than relying on expensive cosmetics, says clinical nutritionist Ishi Khosla.

“A clear and glowing skin reflects overall health. This requires a well-balanced fibre- rich diet, plenty of fluids, regular exercise, no smoking and avoiding excessive exposure to sun,” Khosla told IANS.

Khosla, who is the director at Whole Foods India and founder-president of Celiac Society for Delhi, also suggests specific nutrients for good skin.

“The important nutrients for skin include proteins, essential fats, vitamin A, E, C, B complex, selenium, zinc and copper,” she said.

A regular, sound sleep pattern is also a must, says homeopath Kalyan Banerjee.

“Including natural foods in diet, such as fruits, veggies and a lot of water in one’s daily diet, along with uninterrupted sleep automatically brings a glow on the face,” Banerjee told IANS.

While a lot of youngsters are opting to go under the knife for achieving flawless skin, it can be achieved without it too, suggests cosmetic surgeon Anup Dhir.

“Saturated fatty, oily food along with caffeine and processed, junk food and cold drinks should be avoided,” Dhir said, adding that the “eight glasses of water a day” mantra is indispensable.

“Water not only helps you feel fresh but it also prevents dehydration and will help wash out a lot of toxins,” he said.

Dhir says water must also be put to good use for washing the face well!

“Wash your skin twice daily with a chemical free, mild face wash. Sometimes, one should also splash plain water on their skin. Wiping the skin with tissue papers can help reduction of oil. Avoid touching your skin with dirty hands as it leads to more pimples,” he said.

And no heavy make-up please as it blocks the pores, leading to more acne.

Salicylic acid/glycolic acid-based creams or cleansers can help in reducing oil secretion and help in keeping acne under control, suggests Madhurima Sharma, cosmetic, plastic and laser surgeon, Atelier Aesthetic Clinic.

“Protection from sun is very important as ultraviolet rays cause damage and can give sun spots, tanning and pre-mature skin ageing.

“Wear a scarf when out in sun, use dark rimmed sunglasses which cover more of your face, carry an umbrella and wear loose cotton clothes… it will be very helpful,” Sharma said.

Apart from using natural methods of skin protection, one should invest in a good and suitable sunscreen, with a high sun protection factor (SPF).

“Applying sunscreen just once in the morning is not enough. Re-application of sunscreen three to four times a day is required. It’s important that you apply sunscreen 20 to 30 minutes before going out in the sun. Even water resistant sunscreen needs to be applied more than three or four times a day,” said Sharma.

But she warns against reuse of old sunscreen lotion.

(Aastha Khurana can be contacted at aastha.k@ians.in)

IANS



This article was distributed through the NewsCred Smartwire.

Original article © IANS / Daily News 2012


Similar news:
Category: Natural diet plan  Tags: ,  Comments off
18 Apr 2012

No Pharisee like a Pharisee on a diet

I’ve now been on a diet for 17 weeks, though it feels like it began early in the Carter administration. It was my Washington Post colleague E.J. Dionne who provided the inspiration and the method. When I asked the secret of his weight loss, he told me: “Two things: Cutting carbohydrates and a bout of the stomach flu.” I took the low-carb route.

The sameness of healthy eating has begun gnawing at me. I never want to see a lean protein again — though this, apparently, is the only sort I’m allowed for the rest of my life. Vegetables once crisp and colorful now seem raw and garish. Healthy probiotics have all the appeal of parasites. On the other hand, I miss bread and pasta less than I thought I would, which would have been taken as crazy talk by my Italian ancestors. My only real craving has been for peanut butter, which I have sometimes sought out nocturnally with the biologically driven imperative of a migrating goose.

Dieting is a reintroduction to the mind-body problem — a reminder that our Pilgrim souls are fastened to a peanut butter-craving animal. During a diet, or in a hospital bed, the mind pays tribute to its cranky, demanding host.

I have generally avoided the latest dieting technologies. Recent studies had found that people using large forks eat less. Dining in front of a mirror shames people into reducing their consumption by about a third. The color blue in the dining area seems to be an appetite suppressant. But this image — eating with an oversized implement, while staring at your own shrinking image, surrounded by a sea of bright blue — seems less like a dieting strategy than the outcome of ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms, which are also low carb.

It is easy to blame yourself for the scale your self assumes. My research, however, indicates that I am the victim of complex historical forces. The human genome was honed for hunter-gatherers — tireless, long-distance trackers of game, capable of storing energy in fat during long winters and frequent famine. Feed a hunter-gatherer 150 to 170 pounds of sugar a year and place him in front of a television set for 4.8 hours a day and you get the average American. A job hunched in front of a computer screen, I can attest, is also not particularly good preparation for the hunt. Vast civilizational trends have left many of us with 20 or 30 pounds of unsightly flab.

As Karl Marx would remind us, even impersonal forces produce flesh-and-blood villains. The second-largest employer in the U.S. (following government) is the food service industry, packing calories, salt and fat into ever-larger servings, marketed to ever-larger children. Government adds to the buffet by subsidizing the growth of nutritionally empty grains such as corn, used to make sweeteners and to fatten the means of hamburger production. But what interests me most is my own growing censoriousness as I’ve shed a few pounds. I had not realized that diets, along with producing feelings of lightheadedness, also result in feelings of moral superiority. Having foresworn McDonald’s and Dairy Queen, I find myself pitying those poor souls still addicted to Big Macs and Blizzards. Judgmentalism comes unbidden — as strong as in San Francisco or Denmark. A Snickers bar now seems such a shoddy little sin — the nutritional equivalent of cigarettes and porn.

So a diet is also a lesson in moral philosophy. It is distressingly easy to condemn others for failings I shared a few months ago — and could share again with one ill-advised trip to the 7-11. Perhaps it is for the best that most weight control plans eventually fail. There is no Pharisee like a Pharisee on a diet.

michaelgerson@washpost.com

 


Similar news:
Category: Best diet plan  Tags: ,  Comments off
18 Apr 2012

Brides Look to the K-E Diet to Drop Weight Fast Before Their Wedding

Being a bride myself once, I know first-hand the pressures of looking great on your wedding day.

The hair, the nails, the make up – it’s enough to send a bride-to-be into a flurry of anxiety to try and look perfect on her wedding day. But perhaps the biggest stress a bride can endure is looking good in her wedding dress, and especially slimming down to make it fit.

Though amped up diet and fitness plans are more and more common among brides, a new diet trend for drastic, rapid weight loss has become especially appetizing to brides who are seeking to drop the pounds quickly before their big day.

It’s called the K-E Diet and requires a feeding tube to be placed down a patient’s nose and into their stomach so they can be fed a special liquid cocktail that promotes weight loss – up to 20 pounds in 10 days.

Dr. Oliver Di Pietro of Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, is one of the many physicians offering the K-E Diet at his practice. He demonstrated how the diet works on ABC, and sounded very confident of its success.

According to Di Pietro, dieters are fed a constant drip of fat and protein mixed with water – a substance that contains absolutely no carbohydrates, and totals only 800 calories a day. The diet works so effectively because body fat is burned off through ketosis, a process that leaves muscle intact.

Di Pietro says patients aren’t hungry at all for the entire 10-day period, but may suffer from such common side effects as bad breath and constipation, because the liquid contains no fiber. K-E dieters are under a doctor’s supervision during their time on the diet, but are not hospitalized. Instead, they keep a bag containing the liquid and wear it constantly like a purse, in addition to their feeding tube.

As far as cost goes, it’s not cheap. Di Pietro charges $1,500 for the 10-day plan. And although the K-E Diet has been popular in Europe for a while now, it’s still fairly new to the U.S. But despite the cost, people are already eager to test it out.

One bride-to-be, Jessica Schnaider, turned to the K-E Diet after she was unable to lose those last 10 pounds before her wedding. Schnaider spent eight days on the feeding tube, forgoing the last two days since she’d already lost the amount of weight she hoped to. She said the diet was a great success for her, as ‘those 10 pounds went off fast, without hunger.’

But the diet has experts concerned mostly for the low calorie count, but also for the speed at which dieters lose weight. One psychoanalyst argued the mind can’t keep up with a weight reduction that fast, and others more say the pounds dieters drop will likely inch back shortly after they’re shed.

DietsInReview.com’s Registered Dietitian, Mary Hartley, RD, says 90% of brides want to lose weight, but crash dieting before the wedding isn’t a good idea.

“The K-E Diet is an extreme. Sure, your body can manage to stay alive during a period of severe nutrient deprivation, but who wants to? I don’t recommend entering a ketogenic state before the wedding,” says Mary. “Ketosis feels unpleasant with headaches, fatigue, dry mouth, thirst, bad breath, dizziness, nausea, and sleep problems. And the patient is truly in ketosis because the doctor  - who is charging $1,500 – makes sure of it.”

Mary also argues that if ketosis is done too close to the wedding, the bride may look shrunken. And that the weight lost is largely water and will surely return.

Aside from the high cost and obvious health concerns, brides shouldn’t try to lose wedding weight quickly, but instead strive to achieve a healthy weight through diet and exercise. And rather than focusing on a number for the big day, they should shift their aim to leading a health lifestyle for the benefit of their health in the long run.

Also Read:

Hilary Duff Does 5-Factor Fitness as Pre-Wedding Workout

Be a Happy and Healthy Bride on Your Wedding Day

Wedding Shape [VIDEO]

 

photo by The New York Times 

 

April 16th, 2012

Posted in: , ,


Subscribe to our Health News Alerts

Get the latest news on diets, health, and other nutritional news weekly. Privacy



<!–



–>


Similar news:
Category: Weight loss plans  Tags: ,  Comments off
18 Apr 2012

City considers mobile food truck program



SAN ANTONIO –

For decades, mobile food trucks have been a staple of the San Antonio diet. On any given night there are dozens of taco trucks and other vendors selling all types of food on street corners all across the city.

As the popularity of gourmet food truck continues to grow city leaders are now considering a pilot program that would allow the trucks to sell their culinary treats in the central business district downtown.

While other cities like Austin and El Paso have embraced the virtual kitchens-on-wheels, San Antonio has sort of been stuck in the past. The trucks have been banned from downtown due to concerns about traffic and safety problems.

Since December the city has been holding meetings about mobile food truck vending in the downtown area and now they are ready to present a six month pilot program to city council for approval.

“The advantage of coming sort of late to the program is that we’ve seen some of the programs that haven’t worked in other cities and we’ve seen what programs have worked,” said Mark Brodeur, Director of the Center City Development Office. “We’ve developed the rules and regulations to allow mobile food truck vending on public streets in downtown.”

Brodeur is trying to create a “culinary master plan” for the food trucks. Right now, the pilot program calls for allowing preselected vendors to set up in three locations; Hemisfair Park, Maverick Park on Broadway and at the Civic Center Annex parking lot across from City Hall.

Interested vendors will be able to apply to take part in the program. Brodeur said the vendors would need to submit pictures of their truck and a sample menu which will be used to select the vendors that will be allowed to set up in the designated areas.

The city would charge the vendors a onetime $225 fee which would defray the costs of reserving parking spots and support the administering of the program.

The goal is to select a variety of food trucks for each location and keep them rotating.

“The locations will have various food vendors on different days at different times and those mobile food vendors will either circulate to another site or they’ll move of out of downtown and mobile food vend on their own,” Brodeur said.

Another concern being addressed by the program is cutting down on the amount of competition with existing brick and mortar restaurants.

“So if we have let’s say a Mexican restaurant, we’re going to try not to put a Mexican food truck out in front of the store,” Brodeur said, adding variety will be key to the program’s success. “We don’t want to have a lot of cheeseburger trucks in one place, we don’t want to have a lot of Italian trucks in one place.”

At least one spot in the city, Alamo Street Eat Bar located on South Alamo, has already become a haven for trendy foodies. The location has room for 6 trucks and has a permanent bar. Regular vendors at that location said they would be interested in taking part in the downtown pilot program.

“I think it’s great, I think the public is going to respond to it well and I think it’s going to give young entrepreneurs a great chance to get started,” said Christopher Cullum, owner of Attaboy Burgers. “We need more creative thought in this city and this exactly what it’s going to do for it.”

Anna Fernandez owns a truck that serves chili and other Tex-Mex inspired dishes. She calls her mobile restaurant the Chili Queens which ties into some San Antonio history. For more than 100 years, women would cook chili over open fires in the city’s plazas. Their customers were soldiers, cattlemen, tourists and business men working in the downtown area. In a way they were the first mobile food venders in the city, but they disappeared in the 1940′s when new health laws were passed.

Fernandez is on board with the pilot program and believes it could benefit the tourism industry.

“Part of the experience of being in the downtown area is being able to have the experience of having food from the street made by people who are from the city,” Fernandez said. “So I think it’s really great, I think it’s going to enhance the tourist experience.”

This Thursday, Brodeur will present the food truck pilot program to city council for approval. If they sign off on it the trucks could start selling food in the approved locations by the first of May. The program would run through the end of October when it would be reconsidered as a permanent program.


Similar news:
Category: Natural diet plan  Tags: ,  Comments off
18 Apr 2012

Michael Gerson: As weight falls, judgmentalism goes up

WASHINGTON —

I’ve now been on a diet for 17 weeks, though it feels like it began early in the Carter administration. It was my Washington Post colleague E.J. Dionne who provided the inspiration and the method.

When I asked the secret of his weight loss, he told me: “Two things: Cutting carbohydrates and a bout of the stomach flu.”

I took the low-carb route.






  • See all
    90 photos
    at full size


The sameness of healthy eating has begun gnawing at me. I never want to see a lean protein again — though this, apparently, is the only sort I’m allowed for the rest of my life. Vegetables once crisp and colorful now seem raw and garish. Healthy probiotics have all the appeal of parasites.

On the other hand, I miss bread and pasta less than I thought I would, which would have been taken as crazy talk by my Italian ancestors. My only real craving has been for peanut butter, which I have sometimes sought out nocturnally with the biologically driven imperative of a migrating goose. Dieting is a reintroduction to the mind-body problem, a reminder that our pilgrim souls are fastened to a peanut butter-craving animal. During a diet, or in a hospital bed, the mind pays tribute to its cranky, demanding host.

I have generally avoided the latest dieting technologies. Recent studies had found that people using large forks eat less. Dining in front of a mirror shames people into reducing their consumption by about a third. The color blue in the dining area seems to be an appetite suppressant. But this image — eating with an oversized implement, while staring at your own shrinking image and surrounded by a sea of bright blue — seems less like a dieting strategy than the outcome of ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms, which are also low carb.

It is easy to blame yourself for the scale your self assumes. My research, however, indicates I am the victim of complex historical forces. The human genome was honed for hunter-gatherers — tireless, long-distance trackers of game, capable of storing energy in fat during long winters and frequent famine. Feed a hunter-gatherer 150 to 170 pounds of sugar a year and place him in front of a television for 4.8 hours a day and you get the average American. A job hunched in front of a computer screen, I can attest, is also not particularly good preparation for the hunt. Vast civilizational trends have left many of us with 20 or 30 pounds of unsightly historical epiphenomenon.

As Karl Marx would remind us, even impersonal forces produce flesh-and-blood villains. The second-largest U.S. employer (after government) is the food service industry, packing calories, salt and fat into ever-larger servings, marketed to ever-larger children. Government adds to the buffet by subsidizing the growth of nutritionally empty grains such as corn, used to make sweeteners and to fatten the means of hamburger production.

Progressive city councils have begun taking on the culinary-political complex. San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to ban McDonald’s Happy Meals as the equivalent of cigarette advertising to children. “We’re part of a movement,” said Supervisor Eric Mar, “that is moving forward an agenda of food justice.” Denmark recently imposed the first “fat tax” on unhealthy foods.



For some, the time has come to fight The Man — the Good Humor Man. Not being a progressive, I find the desire to politicize every social problem to be problematic. Not being a libertarian, I could be persuaded of the usefulness of public efforts to discourage high levels of sugar and salt intake, which impose a private and public cost.

But what interests me most is my own growing censoriousness as I’ve shed a few pounds. I had not realized that diets, along with producing feelings of lightheadedness, also result in feelings of moral superiority. Having foresworn McDonald’s and Dairy Queen, I find myself pitying those poor souls still addicted to Big Macs and Blizzards. Judgmentalism comes unbidden, as strong as in San Francisco or Denmark. A Snickers bar now seems such a shoddy little sin, the nutritional equivalent of cigarettes and porn.

So a diet is also a lesson in moral philosophy. It is distressingly easy to condemn others for failings I shared a few months ago, and could share again with one ill-advised trip to the 7-11. Perhaps it is for the best that most weight-control plans eventually fail. There is no Pharisee like a Pharisee on a diet.

Contact Michael Gerson at michaelgerson@washpost.com.


Similar news:
Category: Healthy diet plans  Tags: ,  Comments off
18 Apr 2012

Xtreme Fat Loss Diet Creator Joel Marion Giving Away His Most Popular 27-page Rapid Fatloss Report ($29.95 value)



  • Brett Coomer

    Houston Chronicle

    Copyright 2012 Houston Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Updated 10:32 p.m., Tuesday, April 17, 2012

    Teenage victims of sex traffickers will get money from sale of brothels


    • Similar news:
    Category: Best diet plan  Tags: ,  Comments off
    « Previous Entries
    • RSS
    • Facebook
    • Google+
    • Twitter