Medifast Diet Help & News Updates: coupon

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Sunday, April 6, 2008

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.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Does Diet and Geography Determine Your Longevity?

A doctor has done a study that will let you know the average lifespan you can expect based on where you live and how much money you make. This wouldn't seem unusual on the surface if you consider the extremes - poverty-sticken areas with higher crime rates versus wealthy areas with no crime. However, there may be more questionable results when you get to the center of the curve, those areas that make up a majority of the country - average income, average lifestyle, in average-priced neighborhoods - the middle to upper-middle class of people. Dr. Anthony Iton has still managed to come up with an estimated lifespan based on these few factors. Here's more --

If you tell Dr. Anthony Iton where you live and how much money you make, he'll tell you how long you're likely to live. The public health director for Alameda County said he was startled by the results of taking the county's deaths and mapping them according to U.S. Census tracts, a far smaller and precise geographical region than ZIP Code.

"There are hot spots of death where life expectancy is literally on the order of a decade shorter than other parts of the county," said Iton, who has been on the job five years. "That's pretty astounding. That's 10 years of life lost due to social conditions."

According to Iton, the vast majority of deaths in the so-called hot spots in Alameda County were not due to crime or AIDS, but to heart disease, cancer and other chronic conditions - the same diseases that kill the general population. These diseases just kill people in poorer neighborhoods faster.

But he believes, contrary to health reform proposals nationwide, that health insurance does little to solve the problem. "Health care doesn't work to reduce health disparities. We spend way more than anyone else, and health costs are going up. The more we spend, the worse the problem seems to be getting," he said, adding that genetics account for a relatively small percentage of chronic illnesses.

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To Iton, the greatest determinant of an individual's health and life expectancy is education. read more...

Comment: According to other studies, he is correct - a higher education is associated with a longer life, something that we blogged days ago. So not only would you benefit from continue to learn each day, and live with a healthy diet at a healthy weight, but you might want to consider a move to an area where your chances are greater for a longer life!?

HWI
Recommendation: If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss, 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.

Does Diet and Geography Determine Your Longevity?

To Iton, the greatest determinant of an individual's health and life expectancy is education. read more...

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Health Spending Exceeded Record $2 Trillion in 2006

From The New York Times --

WASHINGTON — National health spending soared above $2 trillion for the first time in 2006 and has nearly doubled in the last decade, amounting to an average of $7,000 a person, the government reported on Monday. With the advent of a prescription drug benefit in 2006, Medicare spending grew at its fastest pace since 1981, the report said. Private health insurance spending grew at the slowest rate since 1997, and spending on Medicaid, which covers low-income people, declined for the first time since creation of the program in 1965. Over all, the report said, health spending increased 6.7 percent in 2006, slightly faster than in 2005, and now accounts for 16 percent of the total output of good and services, a slightly larger share than in 2005. Introducing the Medicare drug benefit for older Americans and people with disabilities caused changes that rippled through the entire health care sector. Health spending by businesses grew 5.7 percent in 2006, to $496.8 billion, the slowest rate of increase since 1997.

Aaron C. Catlin, an economist at the Health and Human Services Department, said the “deceleration in employer payments for private health insurance” resulted, in part, from the fact that Medicare now subsidized drug costs for many retirees. Employers lobbied for such subsidies when Congress created the benefit. Retail spending on prescription drugs shot up 8.5 percent in 2006, to $216.7 billion, in part because more prescriptions were filled by Medicare beneficiaries, especially those lacking drug coverage in the past. The increase was much greater than the 5.8 percent increase in 2005, but well below the average increase of 13.4 percent a year from 1995 to 2004. Other factors that drove up drug spending included the use of existing drugs for new purposes and the increased use of high-cost biotechnology products, the report said. National health spending first exceeded $1 trillion in 1995. Since then, even when adjusted for inflation, health spending has grown at a rapid clip, increasing 64 percent in 11 years. The data, published in the journal Health Affairs, showed that spending on hospitals, doctors and nursing homes grew more slowly in 2006 than in 2005. But administrative costs increased more than twice as fast. read on...

Comments: It wasn't that long ago that health care costs were around the 1 Trillion mark - in 1995. To double in 10 years means that, yes in fact, health care costs are ballooning out of control. This should be more of a reflection of the poor health that Americans are experiencing, and while that is true, it is not all that is going on. The advancement of equipment, drugs, and procedures that keep a patient alive longer has to be the brunt of the rise in costs. The unfortunate thing about our health care is that it is not health care at all, but sick care. If we can start with the upcoming generation and start teaching life's lessons at an early age, and instill the habits of healthy living in the early years, then we have a chance of reducing costs in the decades to come, on a per capita basis. In other words, assuming the population continues to grow at the current rate, costs will continue to rise, but can be reduced as a percentage of the total. Start with your own weight loss and diet plan and live healthy. Teach those in your family the importance of a healthy lifestyle for the survival of the generations to come.

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

The #3 Diet Vice TV Should be Off During Family Meals

If you've been reading the last few blogs, you will see that the theme has been family, and the importance of a close family to the bringing up of a secure, healthy, happy, productive individual. One of the 3 biggest diet vices that have contributed to the overweight and obesity problem in this country and around the world is the television. A diet vice is broadly defined as anything that gets in the way of living at a healthy weight. Specifically, a diet vice can be a food or drink that is consumed on a regular basis that contributes the most calories to a diet and keeps the "dieter" from living at a healthy weight. The three biggest diet vices are soft drinks, fast food, and television - all based on statistics. The amount of soft drinks and fast food consumed per capita supports the conclusion that they are the 2 top diet vices. And, according to statistics, television is the third diet vice that contributes to the number of overweight and obese individuals. In this day, we can add anything that the TV can be used for - all computer games, specifically, not just television shows. The recommendation that The Health & Wellness Institute gives to those who seek to lose weight, is that no TV may be watched (or used for games; hey, even 40 year olds use PlayStation!) until at least 30 minutes of exercise is done. OR, exercise may be done while watching TV - like a treadmill or piece of cardio that may be in front of the TV, or an exercise video. This puts healthy actions ahead of those that are sedentary, or let's face it, unhealthy considering the quality of so much of the programming these days (I'm not referring to the History Channel here!). Here's some information given about the importance of turning the TV off during family meals. Without reading the article, you can ascertain that the TV will distract family members from the time that should be used for productive communication, the foundation for healthy relationship among all individuals. And the lessons learned during family meals far exceed any entertainment or history lesson that can be learned from TV. This article comes from Science Daily --

ScienceDaily — September and October mark the start of television’s new fall season as the premieres of new shows and old favorites hit the airwaves. But, University of Minnesota researchers found that watching television while eating family meals may have a negative impact on children’s diets.

School of Public Health Project EAT researchers found that children in families who watched TV while eating meals together had a lower-quality diet than the children of families who ate together, but turned the TV off. Boys watching TV while eating family meals consumed fewer vegetables and grains, and more soft drinks, than those who did not watch TV; girls watching TV ate significantly fewer dark vegetables and more fried food.

Dianne Neumark Sztainer, Ph.D., principal investigator of the Project EAT study, suggests more than one reason for why this occurred. “The television may be influencing the types of foods that adolescents choose to eat because of the advertisements they see. Alternatively, meal situations and foods served within homes where the television is on during meals may be different. Further research is needed to explore our findings,” she said. read on...

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

Regular Family Meals Promote Healthy Eating Habits

It's time to get back to family values - a family that eats together, shares the day's struggles, successes, and questions; a time for family to discuss together what is important in life - what's needed to be healthy physically, mentally, spiritually; a time to emphasize the importance of education, goals, and character. And all is done while eating a well balanced meal. The effects of regular meals as this puts the focus on goals that are bigger than any one individual, while instilling the habit of healthy actions to support the efforts of such goals. We have gotten away from the importance of health in all areas of life, and the discipline it takes to build that character, and it all starts at home, and the best time for life's lesson start at the breakfast and dinner table (assuming everyone's at school or work during lunch!). Not only do family meals promote healthy eating, but the ripple effect carries over into every other aspect of life. Here is an article that reveals one aspect of the importance of family meals from Science Daily --

ScienceDaily — MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL -- It's not only the routine of sitting down to dinner as a family, but the importance, structure, and atmosphere of family meals that may help steer adolescent girls from eating disorders. University of Minnesota researchers found that girls who ate regular family meals in a structured and positive environment were less likely to exhibit extreme weight control behaviors such as diet pill use, vomiting, and chronic dieting. Their research was published in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

The meal itself provides an opportunity to model healthy eating habits to children, and it also gives parents the chance to check in with their children, said Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., professor of epidemiology and primary author of the article. She recommended parents keep the conversation positive and non-confrontational, especially if their children have issues surrounding food. "Since society has so much influence on adolescents because of the high prevalence of obesity and the pressure to be skinny, many girls are read on...

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

Weight loss and diet plan starts with family meals

On a previous blog it was mentioned that a healthy lifestyle should be a family affair, with all members of the family participating in activities, exercise, and healthy eating - the latter of which is best done together in order to instill the habit of a healthy diet. And now it seems that disordered eating is less common among teens when they are having meals with their family. Looking back at my own family life, I can weight loss plan, diet plan, weight loss coach, Dr. Patrick Havey attest to this fact, having grown up in a home where dinner together was expected and prior approval for missing better have been cleared with the cook. In other words, I didn't know anything else. And the six of us sat together and had dinnder more nights than not - meals with lean meats or fish, a vegetable, a carb, maybe some gravy to go with it, and milk or water, and sometimes (not that often that I can remember - maybe it was somebody's birthday only) a dessert. The psychological, emotional, habitual, familial, social benefits that ultimately resulted from years of eating together as a family far outweighed (by miles!) any other benefit that us kids as teens back then could ever have received from any of our own activities outside the home. Read this report from Science Daily about some of the eating behaviors of teens who eat meals with their families vs. those that don't --

Science Daily — Adolescent girls who frequently eat meals with their families appear less likely to use diet pills, laxatives or other extreme measures to control their weight five years later, according to a new report.

As youth progress from adolescence into adulthood, disordered eating behaviors--including binge eating and self-induced vomiting--become more common, according to background information in the article. "Disordered eating behaviors are associated with a number of harmful behavioral, physical and psychological consequences, including poorer dietary quality, weight gain and obesity onset, depressive symptoms and the onset of eating disorders," the authors write. "Thus, it is important to identify strategies for the prevention of disordered eating behaviors."

Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., and colleagues at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, studied 2,516 adolescents at 31 Minnesota schools. Participants completed two surveys--an in-class survey in 1999 and a mailed survey in 2004--regarding how often they ate with their families as well as their body mass index, feelings of family connectedness and eating behaviors.

Among teen girls, those who ate five or more meals with their families each week in 1999 were significantly less likely to report using extreme measures (such as self-induced vomiting and diuretics) to control their weight in 2004, regardless of their sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index or family connectedness. However, among adolescent boys, regular family meals did not predict lower levels of disordered eating behaviors five years later. Read on...

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

Girls Who Feel Unpopular May Gain Weight

From Associated Press --

CHICAGO (AP) — Where a teenage girl sees herself on her school's social ladder may sway her future weight, a study of more than 4,000 girls finds. Those who believed they were unpopular gained more weight over a two-year period than girls who viewed themselves as more popular. Researchers said the study showed how a girl's view of her social status has broader health consequences.

The girls in the study were still growing — their average age was 15 — and all of them gained some weight. However, those who rated themselves low in popularity were 69 percent more likely than other girls to increase their body mass index by two units, the equivalent of gaining about 11 excess pounds. (The body mass index, or BMI, is a calculation based on height and weight.)

Girls who put themselves on the higher rungs of popularity also gained some excess weight, but less — about 6 1/2 pounds.

Both groups, on average, fell within ranges considered normal. But a gain of two BMI units over two years is more than the typical weight gain for adolescent girls, the researchers said. Read on...

Comments: This is one of the most common occurences in young women - social unacceptance leading to poor dietary habits, or food being used as comfort. This is a very important stage in the development of any person - male or female. The habits that they are exposed to on a daily basis set the stage for what they will expect of themselves in their own life when out on their own. Then once they have really grown up and get wise, an understanding of the importance of health has a higher chance of setting in, to some degree. Otherwise, life will continue without much concern about weight, health, fitness...until the middle age years start exposing the body's weaknesses through regular sickness, other health problems with higher concern, or even disease. This is not meant to be sound cynical. The opportunity for a healthy and fit lifestyle is there, and may afford so many more opportunities for happiness, productivity, adventure, and creativity. The body functions much better and so does the mind, when the right nutrition, discipline, and exercise are adhered to on a daily basis. A good diet plan can make the difference in the early years. And certainly some parental recognition of such a potential problem, so to head off unhealthy decisions before they happen, will help in the long run. Make health a family affair so you can pass it on to the next generations.

The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC

How Expensive Is Your Diet?

From ABC News --

There are fewer things more dreaded than the New Year's resolution.

For millions of Americans each year, that means deciding to drop a few--or tens --of pounds. It also means picking a diet from a number of confusing programs: low-fat, low-carb, high-protein, pre-made, points-counting, and so on. The options can be exhausting and once committed, it is hard to start over if the diet is less than compatible with your habits--and your bank account. That's why we evaluated the first-week costs of seven popular weight-loss programs. After all, the initial week often requires the greatest personal and financial investment.

We found that consumers on such diet programs as NutriSystem, the Zone, The Abs Diet, The 5-Factor Diet, South Beach, Weight Watchers and the Martha's Vineyard Diet Detox can expect to spend as little as $100 and as much as $385 during the first week.

Surprisingly, the diet with the fewest menu choices--the Martha's Vineyard Diet Detox--costs as much as Weight Watchers: Both totaled about $385. The 5-Factor Diet, engineered by celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, came in a close third at $380. The price of supplements and a juicer were included for the detox diet, while the cost of membership added to the bottom line of joining Weight Watchers. At $98, NutriSystem was the cheapest option, but included only pre-packaged foods and no fresh fruits or vegetables.

Food Facts

The average American household spends $5,781 a year on food, not including alcohol and fast food items, according to the Census' latest Statistical Abstract, which surveyed 5,000 households of varying sizes. Assuming that purchasing habits remain relatively steady, a weekly household grocery bill likely averages about $111, though this may be significantly higher or lower given income and family size.

At any given time, millions of Americans are on a diet--and their dollars are in demand. The weight-loss market is fiercely competitive and reportedly exceeds $40 billion a year in revenue. As high-profile brands move away from identifying their plans as diets and instead as a lifestyle, companies will increasingly offer more options for personalization and taste preferences. In our roundup, there's room for everything from quesadillas to Canadian bacon to chocolate shakes. Read on...

Comments: There is no doubt that

Monday, December 31, 2007

Lose weight Effortlessly, the only diet that works!

Yahoo--The New Year can always be marked by the huge spike in gym memberships and diet programs after the holidays.

For many people, this time of year is a time for change, and often people want to change how they look and feel by losing weight. If this sounds like you, then now's the time to get clear on exactly how a person goes about losing weight so you don't find yourself making the same resolution year after year.

While there are many aspects of diet that you can focus on when trying to lose weight - you can keep track of fat, fiber, protein, or carbohydrates, for example - the key is always about whether you're eating and drinking fewer calories than you are burning.

To lose about one pound per week, you'll need to eat about 500 fewer calories per day from your current daily intake. Weight loss of one to two pounds each week is considered healthy weight loss, meaning that you are losing more fat than muscle.

Start by looking at how many calories you are presently consuming. Use the food labels on products to give you an idea, not forgetting to first read the serving size at the top of the food label. (Many times, we eat what is in the entire package and that may actually be eating three servings, and thus tripling the total calories.) When you grocery shop, compare the labels on similar products and choose the one with the fewest calories.

Become a food label reader and start your weight-loss campaign by reducing the calories you consume. If you are cooking at home, many recipes now have the nutrition facts included. The key is still the serving size. If you have a recipe that you want to analyze, try looking up the ingredients at Calorie King.

Even though calories are still calories, a healthy diet needs to come first. Don't plan to cut calories from fruits, vegetables and whole grains, try cutting calories from snack foods, sweets, fast foods, condiments, or drinks. The best program that addresses this is The Vice Busting Diet, www.ViceBustingDiet.com The concept is based on elimating the biggest causes of Obesity; Fast food aka McDonalds, Soft drinks ala Coca-Cola and limiting TV time in favor of a bit more exercise!

Of course, I've said nothing about the importance of exercise in losing and keeping off the weight. That deserves its own entry.

Medifast Diet Help & News Updates

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Nutrients are an Important Part of a Medifast diet plan

Medifast

Medifast Diet

Medifast Nutrition

Friday, March 28, 2008

Does Diet and Geography Determine Your Longevity?

Does Diet and Geography Determine Your Longevity?

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Health Spending Exceeded Record $2 Trillion in 2006

The #3 Diet Vice TV Should be Off During Family Meals

Regular Family Meals Promote Healthy Eating Habits

Weight loss and diet plan starts with family meals

Girls Who Feel Unpopular May Gain Weight

How Expensive Is Your Diet?

Food Facts

Monday, December 31, 2007

Lose weight Effortlessly, the only diet that works!

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