Medifast Diet Help & News Updates: April 2008

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Unlike Medifast, Some Diet Products Dangerous

Dangerous diet products are causing problems amongst dieters who seek an easy solution. Everything from headaches, stomach aches, and illness have been reported from people using them. In particular, a new "formula" has made the news because of the many reactions that unsuspecting weight loss seekers have experienced. Here's more --

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week reported the recall of Total Body Formula in tropical orange and peach nectar flavors and Total Body Mega Formula in the orange/tangerine flavor.

Beth Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department for Public Health, said the products were sold in Louisville, Owensboro and Middlesboro, as well as 14 other states. It was not sold in Indiana.

Total Body Formula products are sold in 8-ounce and 32-ounce plastic bottles, while Total Body Mega Formula is sold only in 32-ounce plastic bottles. Both are distributed by Total Body Essential Nutrition of Atlanta, which voluntarily recalled them.

According to the FDA, the Florida Department of Health reported that 23 people suffered serious reactions to the supplements. The federal agency is now investigating a report that consumers in Tennessee experienced similar problems. read on...

Comment: You can't achieve good health from a bottle. You can support good health with products that are in a bottle - if they're natural, not synthetic or processed, or contain dangerous stimulants. But you face more dangers with products that make claims of weight loss when all you're supposed to do is drink a liquid or pop a pill. Good health starts with a healthy diet and regular exercise.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A Word on Medifast

While traditional methods of weight loss usually involve a bit of education about the type of meals to be prepared, the reason that certain foods are superior to others, and the time and frequency with which they are to be consumed, there is an easier way to get a meal plan. Medifast offers a meal plan that is not unlike conventional diets. With just a few adjustments from your normal meal selection, coupled with higher nutritional content, lower calorie content, and higher protein, Medifast is sure to provide not only great tasting foods that are healthy, but a cost effective and timely manner with which you can get started on your weight loss plan. While not only diets are alike, their focus is still on helping you achieve your weight loss goal. The foods that you eat are definitely the biggest contributing factor to your weight. The difficulty most Americans run into is not having some guidance as to what they should eat, and instead grab or drive thru what is nearest to satisfy a sudden hunger urge.

While the focus of a healthy lifestyle should not be on food, having a healthy meal plan in place will provide two immediate benefits. First, you can rest assured that the meals you are getting are going to satisfy your hunger. And second, you can be confident that by following the meal plan provided you won't have to fuss with unnecessary and unhealthy choices that permeate the marketplace - i.e. fast foods. The added bonus is that once your plan is in place, you just follow it. There may be some refining to get the foods that you find satisfying to the taste, but by and large the selections available are nothing short of satisfying even the most particular palette.

Medifast is not the final answer to the obesity solution, but one very helpful tool to get you moving in the direction of better health and therefore a healthier weight. A diet may serve the purpose of weight loss, but a diet plan should be about fulfilling a need to develp a healthy lifestyle. In the end, the choices you make will determine your weight and your level of health.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

Cholesterol Actually Good Part of a Medifast Diet

While we are so easily conditioned to modify or adopt new beliefs because of the millions of dollars spent on advertising, there are some important truths that tend to get lost amidst cloudy promotional campaigns. For decades, the suggestion that cholesterol is bad and the source for clogged arteries and heart attacks has been literally shoved in our face. Sure we hear about high levels of cholesterol, but does anyone remember that there is a positive use of cholesterol? In fact, it's not cholesterol that's bad, but the lipoprotein that is the problem, specifically of the low density variety.

While high cholesterol has had war waged on it all for the sake of profits for Big Pharma, there are some interesting studies that concluded there was actually no advantage to taking these drugs - statins in particular - over a "normal diet and enough exercise". With the dangerous side effects of statins, there seems to be more harm done than any possible benefit from their consumption. This report is offered on NaturalNews.com --

In an 8-year long heart study, researchers observed 10,000 people with high cholesterol levels. Half of them received a best-selling statin drug. The other half were simply told to eat a normal diet and get enough exercise. The results stunned the researchers. Although the statin drug did indeed lower serum cholesterol, this had no impact whatsoever on death rate, non-fatal heart attacks and fatal arterial disease. In other words, the statin-users had zero advantage over those who received no treatment at all. However, they had just spent eight years taking a costly drug with hideous side effects - risking liver failure, muscle wasting, even sudden death. Lowering cholesterol either through drugs or low fat diets does not lower the risk of developing heart disease. Read more...

The bottom line is that cholesterol is needed by the body and is an important part of the body's overall function and self-maintenance. A diet that is lacking in proper nutrition - fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based sources - is one that will increase the possibility of health problems. Same goes for lack of physical activity. Being overweight is the first and most obvious sign that potential health problems may be around the corner. So getting your diet and your fitness under control is crucial to your good health.

Note: If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Monday, April 7, 2008

A Medifast Diet is Best with Raw and 'Super' Foods

When you set out to achieve a weight loss goal using any diet plan including Medifast, it is best to start incorporating raw foods as well. This is the best source for a full range of nutrients that will support your health. While Medifast may provide the macronutrients and some nutritional value, your body and health still needs to be supported by the thousands of phytonutrients that only comes from plant sources. Raw foods and/or Superfoods are best because they are uncooked, unheated, and in the form as they left Mother Nature - this keeps the nutrient value optimal. If you cook any foods, you will diminish the value of the nutritional content to some degree. Here's more on Raw Foods and Superfoods from NaturalNews.com --

(NaturalNews) This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni's Raw Summit Teleseminar program which can be found at (www.rawsummitarchives.com) . In this excerpt, David Wolfe weighs in on "you are what you eat" and the basics of raw and super foods.

Raw Summit Excerpt with David Wolfe raw food and super food lifestyle guru, author, chocolatier, alchemist, speaker and founder of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. He has spent the last 15 years spreading the news of great health around the world.

Kevin: I am excited about this call. So David, why don't you just give us a brief explanation for maybe people who don't know you that well. Who you are and a little bit about your story.

David: Well, I started out as a son of two medical doctors. And I grew up inside a medical doctor's office if you can image what that was like. And I've basically been with my dad on a huge array of different types of situations from emergency medicine to automobile crashes to motorcycle wrecks to house calls and I grew up in a very unique situation because of all those experiences. And that I believe is what oriented me towards natural health. Because I never really believed that injecting something was really necessary. And I always felt that I was really the healthiest when I ate natural foods and, in particular, the first time I ever had a fresh tangerine off a tree when we first came to southern California in 1977. read the complete interview...

Comment: While Medifast can assist with your weight loss, the nutrient value contained within raw fruits and vegetables or plant-based foods will provide the added phytonutrients that are important for good health. If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Medifast Diet Needs to Include Changing Your Mindset

The stigma behind most diets is that they are a unique way of eating that isn't typical of an average diet. The real reason a "diet" should exist is to allow an individual an easier plan to follow that is healthier than the way they eat now. In other words, a choice of healthy meals and items that are not so unique that the dieter can't wait to complete their goal and finish the diet. Unfortunately for most of those who seek weight loss, this mindset does not bring about lasting change. This is why a true diet plan should be appealing now and in the future. It may not be the exact way of eating that will be followed for years to come, but it should provide a foundation for healthy eating, and establish not only healthy habits but a knowledge and desire to continue choosing healthy items. When you start to believe in the lifestyle, you no longer will have to seek out a diet. These same thoughts are shared by Review.com --

Shifting the focus towards being healthy is the key to an education campaign encouraging women to forgo fad diets and focus on simple, lifelong changes. The "Campaign for Healthy Weight," created by a partnership between America On The Move, Curves and the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), has a simple rallying cry - small, specific changes in physical activity and calorie intake can make a significant difference. It all starts with taking a pledge for a new, healthy approach.

"We need to get past the era of extreme dieting," agreed renowned obesity expert James O. Hill, Ph.D., co-founder of America On The Move. "Health management needs to be a bigger part of weight management."

A new report called "Weighing in on the American Diet," found that although dieting is at an all-time low, "feeling healthier" is the primary motivator for those beginning a diet. The new study, conducted by The NPD Group in collaboration with Milk Processor Education Program, looked at the who, what, how and why of dieting in this country - providing one of the most comprehensive snapshots of weight management practices in America. read on...

Final Word: If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed. While Medifast can help you get on track, it is the mindset of a healthy lifestyle and the empowerment that it brings that you should seek to achieve.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Medifast and Prohibition of Fast Food, Soft Drinks and Candy May End Obesity

It was only a dream.

I fell asleep last night after having watched a local news program talking about how Anheuser-Busch was going to celebrate the anniversary of the end of Prohibition today. It's been 75 years since Bud was finally available to the masses thanks to the repeal of Prohibition. I had the strangest dream--and you were there, and you were there...

I dreamt of a future world in which Coca-Cola's Coke and Diet Coke were banished. McDonald's was out of business but a new franchise used the Golden Arches buildings to sell the healthiest salad bar in the world--no longer serving whatever that was that McDonald's used to put between two pieces of flour paste with cheese, ketsup and a pickle and ask if you wanted fried lard/potato sticks with it. Candy aisles had bright lables wrapped around a banana, an apple and kiwi; there wasn't a chocolate bar in sight. Water was what everyone drank.

The people were so healthy, there was no one who was morbidly obese. No one needed a scooter to move around. No one was forced to lay in bed because they couldn't lift their own body weight and walk. Pluse sized stores no longer existed. One size really did fit all.

There were millions of children outside playing games and laughing, adults were holding hands walking down the streets; it was beautiful. Hospitals were like ghost towns, hardly any beds occupied with the sick or dying. Teachers earned more money than doctors and players didn't get paid to play sports, as there were waiting lists of healthy and fit people waiting for a turn at bat. Everyone was active, fit, healthful and empowered.

As I was flying naked over them (ok, why is it that we are always naked and flying in our dreams?), ok, I made that part up, but as I watched the people what they were doing looked familiar to me but I couldn't put my finger on what as different and then it hit me!

There weren't any soda machines! Only water fountains.

There weren't candy filled vending machines, only carts filled with fresh fruits and vegetables.

There weren't fast-food restaurants on every corner; no in this great city there were gyms, parks and bike trails on every corner.

What brought this wonderful change about?

It turns out that a very brave President, signed into law a Obesity Prohibition Bill; banning the sale of high-fructose corn syrup laced poison, aspartame spiked beverages, actually ANYTHING containing aspartame, splenda, etc was bannded. MSG was banned. Anything made in a restaurant had to be made of actual food, not man-made garbage like McDonald's served for so many years that widened the bodies of so many humans. In fact, the only "ast food" restaurant from 2008 that was still in business was Subway--they must have meant it when they said "Eat Fresh"

And, no, the President wasn't one of the 2008 Mississippi legistlators trying to ban FAT people from being served in restaurants. It was the smart gal from Missouri who decided to go after the causes of Obesity, not the people who suffer from it!

and then, I woke up.

Medifast Help for Unsuspecting Dieters

A Medifast Diet Plan and the abolishment of soft drinks and fast food may solve the overweight and obesity crisis.

Breaking news from The Center For The Lack of Common Sense:

Five Philadelphia elementary schools replaced sodas with fruit juice. They scaled back snacks and banished candy. They handed out raffle tickets for wise food choices. They spent hours teaching kids, their parents and teachers about good nutrition. What have they got to show for it? The number of kids who got fat during the two-year experiment was half the number of kids who got fat in schools that didn’t make those efforts. read on...

Ya think?

So what they learned is that if you teach kids about healthy eating habits and exercise and you make those foods available for them and GET RID of the junk; i.e. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Snicker's bars (w/ or without caffiene aka Snicker's Charged and it's 60 MG of Caffiene!) that kids lose weight? well knock me over with a feather!

Our world is really messed up. I got this email from a friend the other day:

Corporate America owns chain restaurants. Moms and Pops own smaller restaurants. The restaurants enter into contracts with soda manufacturers who pay out (sometimes large incentive amounts) to the restaurants to procure exclusive soda sales rights. The restaurants sell soda at prices cheaper than milk or even tea in some cases. The restaurants sell soda in larger servings than those accorded other drinks. The restaurants will provide free re-fills for the sodas, but not for the healthier alternatives, i.e. milk. This is especially problematic for parents on a budget.

Thus, their children end of being served larger quantities of the soda for a cheaper price, effectively "habitizing" the children to drink soda in rediculous quantities at an earlier age. My kids were charged $2.50 per glass of milk at a recent lunch. They each had two glasses. That is $20 for milk at lunch. Unlimited soda would have cost $5. The lunch for the four kids cost $24.00, excluding the drinks.

Lunch with soda: $29

Lunch with milk:$44

Tip with soda $6

Tip with milk $9

$35 gross cost of lunch with soda

$53 gross cost of lunch with milk

$18 increase in the cost of a lunch for four kids at a mid range restaurant just to avoid having the kids consume soda. That is an increase of over 50% to avoid having your kids poisoned by soda.
Something is not right in Oz.

No, something is indeed wrong in Oz!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

To Use Medifast or Not, That is the Question

Those who have read our blog have asked why Medifast is recommended when we make it clear that a healthy diet should be all about natural foods like fruits and vegetables instead of someone else's diet plan. While that is true, people still don't take up the cause to improve their health and do the actions that would bring about a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, with a Medifast plan it is easier to follow the diet that is already organized in the hopes of getting weight loss going. Medifast is a meal plan, not so much a plan for building a healthy lifestyle. So while a healthy lifestyle is the goal, Medifast can at least be a choice that will help you move in that direction. And anything we can help you do that is better than what you're doing now, is going to help you get to where you want to go - weight loss and fitness and better health.

So if you aren't following the transitional steps to lose the weight and build a healthy lifestyle with The Vice Busting Diet Plan, or maybe you aren't following it exactly and you need help with a meal plan, then by all means you can try Medifast. We'll continue to recommend fruits and vegetables and daily exercise, and drinking water over any other beverage, but Medifast will be there as an option to help you get started while you put all those other healthy actions in place.

Note: Because most people are not getting their daily recommended intake of fruits and vegetables, we recommend a supplement to make up for this deficiency. Here's the deal - Diet and exercise can help reduce the risk of degenerative diseases like heart disease and stroke, diabetes and cancer. Click here to learn why eating fruits and vegetables is especially important, and how you can benefit from adding Juice Plus+® to your diet. Juice Plus+® is the most thoroughly researched nutritional product in history.

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

Nutrients are an Important Part of a Medifast diet plan

There is much research showing the importance and benefits of the nutrients contained within the juice of many different plant-based sources, plus the support to one's health is second to none. This should be interpreted as a need to make fruits and vegetables a priority in your diet. If you can't or don't or won't get the recommended minimum, The Health & Wellness Institute suggests adding a supplement made using the juice from a variety of fruits and vegetables, plus it is put into a capsule for quick and easy consumption. Here's more information --

National Cancer Institute Encourages Eating Blue and Purple Fruits and Vegetables--
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), the national health authority that encourages all Americans to eat 5 to 9 servings of vegetables and fruit a day to promote health and reduce risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, is strongly urging all Americans to eat blue and purple fruits and vegetables. This is because fruits such as blueberries contain disease-fighting phytochemicals such as anthocyanins and phenolics. NCI states that anthocyanins and phenolics are powerful antioxidants that help reduce the risk of such diseases as cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. They may even help to slow the aging process. NCI also encourages eating a wide variety of other colorful foods in order to take advantage of other types of healthful phytonutrients they contain. For more information, go to www.5aday.gov.

Red Grape Juice Proves Beneficial In Human Study--
In a recent study involving twenty-six patients receiving hemodialysis and 15 healthy subjects who drank 100 mL of red grape juice for 14 days, red grape juice proved to have a variety of healthful benefits. Researchers concluded that dietary supplementation with red grape juice improves the lipoprotein profile, reduces concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers and oxidized LDL, and may favor a reduction in cardiovascular disease risk. Additional studies would help to confirm these findings. For more information go to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 84, July 2006.

Diet and exercise can help reduce the risk of degenerative diseases like heart disease and stroke, diabetes and cancer. Click here to learn why eating fruits and vegetables is especially important, and how you can benefit from adding Juice Plus+® to your diet. Juice Plus+® is the most thoroughly researched nutritional product in history.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Promoting Medifast - World Health Day Needs a New Diet

You've heard World Health Day is April 7th, or maybe you haven't.

Not many people may because news services may just make this a quick mention that isn't given much airtime or print space. But this blogger's purpose is to try to wake up the world to the real threat of mankind (no, it's not global warming!). That threat is our food supply.

How many people are there on the Earth? How much food is needed to feed them? If you said there isn't a problem with enough food, it's getting the food to people who don't have access to it, then you're only partially right. The problem goes much further than just not getting food to those who need it. You don't see Coca-Cola having a problem getting their product into third-world countries - ok, other than a few political hurdles. You also see a rise in tooth decay, overweight citizens, and an entire gamut of health problems show up within 1 year of soft drink introduction in these countries. Same goes for fast food restaurants (names you know, obviously!)

The food supply is not the issue. The quality of foods and our water supply is the issue. Health problems can be traced to a poor diet - one that is void of fruits and vegetables and filled with high-fructose corn syrup-filled products and fatty foods and processed foods and everything else that's not fruits and vegetables. Even fruits and vegetables are seeing a compromise to their quality, due to poor soil conditions, environmental pollutants, and probably even competition to turn out an inexpensive product so consumers won't be deterred from purchasing them.

So while we have the ability to feed the world - and some reports say many times over every day - we do not have the proper supply of nutrient-rich food to supply the entire population on Earth. Think of the numbers of fruits and vegetables that have to be available everyday if every citizen on Earth was to consume just 5 servings per day - that would be something close to 20 Billion pieces of fruit or vegetables? If you haven't seen this world clock that shows some interesting figures about the Earth's population, check it out.

It's time to wake up and realize that each person's diet choices each day is important to the future health of our planet. Choose fruits and vegetables more often and more quality fruits and vegetables will show up (eventually). Keep choosing fast foods and soft drinks and those companies will keep making them and keep counting their money while we all get sicker. It's the law of supply and demand. A healthy diet demands healthy foods, and healthy foods will become more predominant than unhealthy ones. The choice is yours, it's ours. The future health of our planet depends on all of us and our choices.

If you need to make a transition to a healthier lifestyle, there are some things you can do to get moving in that direction. If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed. Do this and add more fruits and vegetables to your diet and help support a healthy planet.

World Health Day - Diet, Fitness, and Healthy Lifestyle Should be the Focus

While you may hear about World Health Day and the focus on such debatable claims like 'global warming' and the challenges faced with a rise in the Earth's temperature, but there are bigger issues at stake. For starters, the health of mankind needs to be mentioned from a diet and fitness level. Although this may sound much less important than trying to eradicate deadly diseases like AIDS or malaria, the fact is that many more diseases will be present and many more lives at stake in years to come, without a focus on a quality food supply. Just because mankind can be fed, doesn't mean that mankind is going to be healthy, only perhaps survive another day. Without wholesome foods grown on good quality soil full of nutrients and trace minerals and the like, the immune systems of all living things could be compromised to the point of making a common cold a common risk of death. Sounds extreme but even HIV positive patients see a great benefit to a very strict diet that enhances their immune system and leaves out processed foods that can deplete its strength.

How is it that food could be the basis for good health for all? Is it the hundreds of nutrients present in whole foods that we don't hear about or aren't talked about? Maybe these healthy sources of nutrition are overshadowed by marketing efforts of the big burger places and soft drink makers. It's not unrealistic to think that society will lose many of the nutrients that are very important to supporting good health and preventing disease much the same way that certain species are now extinct. Afterall, genetically modified seeds have made their way into the food system in a BIG way. What effect is this having? Will we know anytime soon?

A healthy diet and lifestyle should be the focus of World Health Day, instead of what citizens are doing that may be raising the temperature of the Earth. Sure we need to make diseases like Malaria and Small Pox obsolete. Anything that we have vaccines for should be practically non-existent with a concerted effort. But the big problem that supercedes these is the foundation of health - diet. What you decide to eat will determine whether or not we, together, the farmers that provide fruits and vegetables will still be in existence in years to come. They won't be needed if they have a product that no one wants. Make the choice to eat more fruits and vegetables. Increase the demand, while decreasing the demand for hamburgers, soft drinks, potato chips, or any other processed foods. The collective choices of the citizens of the planet is what ultimately will decide where the future of the World lies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) was (apparently) founded on this day, and I suppose that's the reason for this day as World Health Day. Maybe a healthy diet day should be started to help increase awareness of what a healthy diet really is. Is it french fries, hot dogs, pizza, soft drinks, cereal (and I don't mean Oatmeal here!), and pastries? Most of the foods offered that have been pre-packaged - that is, already made and can be eaten out of the box or heated - are missing hundreds of important nutrients for supporting your health. There isn't one food or soft drink manufacturer or fast food restaurant that would be behind a World Healthy Diet Day as described. They would lose hundreds of millions of dollars just in one day.

With a healthy diet you can expect weight loss if you need it; you can expect more energy if you seek it; you can expect your IQ to go up if you want it. You may see your income go up, your relationships improve (oh yeah? you don't think your sex life is better with more energy and a slimmer body?), your creative thoughts and productivity as a person may improve. These are all things, and more, that have been noticed by individuals who make the effort to improve their health by changing what they eat. A healthy diet plan is just the beginning to a healthy lifestyle.

If you really want to make World Health Day something to talk about, then give up the top contributors to the overweight and obesity epidemic - soft drinks, fast foods, and any other packaged foods that aren't made with the intent to IMPROVE and SUPPORT your health.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

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Medifast Diet

Medifast Nutrition

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

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Medifast Nutrition

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Medifast Nutrition

Monday, April 7, 2008

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A Medifast Diet Plan and the abolishment of soft drinks and fast food may solve the overweight and obesity crisis.

Medifast

Medifast Diet

Medifast Nutrition

Sunday, April 6, 2008

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Medifast Diet

Medifast Nutrition

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Medifast Nutrition

Saturday, April 5, 2008

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Medifast Diet

Medifast Nutrition

Medifast

Medifast Diet

Medifast Nutrition