When you are considering getting involved with a weight loss program, you are right away going to be bombarded with an extensive amount of questions that you will want answered. It is very important to have all your questions answered, but you may find it is hard to get your questions answered. If this is the case, then you may want to avoid that weight loss program.

With the vast amount of selections available, it is right away hard to make a decision, but at the same time, easy as you have many options available.

The Answers You Need

There are a variety of ways you can understand your weight loss program successfully, and the first step would be asking the right questions.

The following are a few of the questions that you will want to have an answer to:

• Do you offer a meal replacement diet or will I be supplying all the foods?
• What are your recommendations for improving my weight loss?
• What is the support like with your weight loss program?
• Are there any hidden fees/costs?
• Will you help me get off of your weight loss program when I’ve reached my weight loss goal?
• Do I receive free days where I can eat whatever I want in amounts I want?

A weight loss program should have the ability to answer all of these questions for you, and if they can not, then continue on searching for a better option.

A Weight Loss Program That Helps

One program that has the ability to answer all of these questions, plus any other additional questions you may have is the Medifast Diet. They are a diet designed around you, your health and your future. With Medifast, you are NOT going to have any hidden fees or costs, they will help you get off your weight loss program, they will supply you with Medifast meals, they have such an amazing support system behind their program that you’ll never feel alone through your dieting and they will help make the diet work better for you.

Medifast also allows you to eat one Lean and Green meal a day, so you never feel like all you are consuming is diet foods, meaning the likelihood of you wanting that “free day” never happens, especially since a free day is never a proper recommendation for anyone participating in a weight loss program.

When it comes to dieting, you not only want the ability to lose weight, but have all the help you require throughout. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and stressed with your diet, choose something that will help you every step of the way.

It is recommended to discuss with your doctor about your weight loss program before settling with a decision. Your doctor can help you understand your health more thorough and direct you in the right path of losing weight safely. Medifast also recommends that you discuss your weight loss wants with your doctor before starting their diet as well.

Even though it is backed by over 20,000 doctors nationwide, you have to take your health seriously and get the right information before beginning. If your doctor feels Medifast is the right diet for you and your needs, then consider using our Medifast coupon codes to save instantly on your Medifast Diet. It is a great way to lose weight while still saving money.

Spend a lot of time thinking about when your last bowel movement was? Constipation is actually a pretty common gastrointestinal health problem. Up to 80 percent of people are estimated to suffer from it at some point during their lives. Taking measures to stay regular will make living more pleasant, and certain types of fibre can offer additional health benefits such as reducing your cholesterol.

While the frequency of bowel movements varies for everyone, generally, you are constipated if you pass stools fewer than three times per week, they are hard and dry and/or you need to strain to have a movement. The root cause of constipation is too much water absorption by the colon or slow colon muscle contractions. Here’s how to prevent this from happening. Remember to add fibre to your diet gradually to help alleviate gas and bloating.

• Eat a high fibre diet. Consuming a diet in high fibre foods, such as legumes (beans and lentils), fruit and vegetables, and whole-grain cereals and breads, will help you reach the 21 to 38 grams of fibre you need daily.
• Try fibre supplements. Over-the-counter fibre supplement products like Metamucil help keep stools soft and regular*. They may also help reduce your total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein or LDL (the bad cholesterol) levels when taken with a low-fat diet**.
• Drink plenty of liquid. Staying hydrated is important for regularity, especially when you increase your fibre content -otherwise you may worsen constipation. Aim for up to eight glasses of caffeine-free fluid a day.
• Exercise regularly. Getting at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week – even walking – can help stimulate intestinal function. Of course, exercise is pivotal to maintaining a healthy weight, and has been shown to reduce risk for cardiovascular disease, depression and some cancers.
• Cut out low-fibre foods. You don’t want to counteract all the “roughage” you’re ingesting by loading up on foods that are high in fat and sugar, which tend to be low in fibre content. Avoid ice cream, cheese and processed foods, which can worsen constipation.
• Don’t wait to evacuate. Try not to delay nature’s call. When you delay the urge to have a bowel movement, more water is absorbed from your stool, causing it to become harder.

With a little planning, you can make sure to prevent the discomfort of constipation and reap the benefits of a healthier lifestyle, including a fibre-rich diet and more exercise. Incorporate the Medifast Diet into your healthier lifestyle and you’ll see even larger weight loss improvements!

* Use as directed. ** Consult a doctor if you are considering use of this product as part of a cholesterol-lowering program.

Researchers have an abundance of theories on what causes Alzheimer’s disease, but it’s been challenging to nail down the scientific proof. Though the central cause has been elusive, one thing that all these researchers agree on is that early in the disease process, nerve endings in the brain get destroyed. Now we have some new research reported in the December 2010 Journal of Neurochemistry that has unearthed one potential agent of destruction, a group of toxic chemicals called type-2 alkenes that damage nerve endings when they accumulate in the brain. The brain itself produces some of these neurotoxicants naturally, but others come from our environment, as I will shortly explain.

A Dangerous Path

Richard M. LoPachin, PhD, a neurochemist and director of research in the department of anesthesiology at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York, and a researcher in Alzheimer’s disease, said that years ago, he did animal studies demonstrating that type 2-alkenes destroy nerve endings in the brain. Other studies have found an excess of these neurotoxicants in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The new research suggests that the damage originates when some of the brain’s mitochondria (the power-producers that exist in all cells) become dysfunctional, creating free radicals that ultimately generate the type 2-alkenes. Some people may be genetically predisposed to this type of mitochondria failure, and in these folks, the destruction is “a low-grade event that accumulates damage over many years,” Dr. LoPachin said. It seems that such damage can be sped up with exposure to type-2 alkenes that we eat or breathe.

For instance, we know that people who smoke are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s, Dr. LoPachin said that he believes it is the type-2 alkenes in tobacco that cause this higher risk and noted that these neurotoxicants exist in other places, too, including in auto exhaust, industrial pollution and smoke from burning organic material, including fireplaces and coal stoves. As to those french fries, Dr. LoPachin explained that potatoes have a certain amino acid (asparagine) that reacts with potatoes’ natural sugar at high temperatures to produce dangerous type-2 alkenes.

No More Fries?

Does this mean that you have to forever avoid fireplaces and french fries? Well, it’s not a bad idea (especially the fries), but fortunately research has identified natural compounds that are quite helpful in partially protecting the brain against type-2 alkenes.

In particular, Dr. LoPachin says that curcumin (found in the spice turmeric and in curries that use it), resveratrol (in red wine and grape skins), and phloretin(apple skins) are strong neuroprotectors, but he adds that these are only a few among thousands of other protective phytopolyphenols in various fruits and vegetables. Researchers are working to isolate some of these compounds for potential use as therapeutic agents, but Dr. LoPachin advises getting phytopolyphenols in their natural state by eating them in foods, where they are accompanied by other helpful co-factors and offer greater bioavailability.

Once again it seems that the real secret to minimizing the risk for dire health problems is quite simple, eat lots and lots of fruits and vegetables!

Source(s):

Richard M. LoPachin, PhD, neurochemist and director of research, department of anesthesiology, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.

Learn The History & Effects Of This Powerful Drug

I was about 13 years old when I had my first cup of coffee; coffee and toast with butter. At that time I was in a rebellious stage, trying new things. An act such as drinking coffee was something adults did, and I was ready to ‘grow up.’ At this time, I didn’t understand the health issues that can coincide with the consumption of coffee. There are still many people in this world that rely on coffee daily, and it is something everyone should consider cutting out of their diet completely. Find out why caffeine is something you shouldn’t have in your daily diet routine now…

What Is Caffeine?

• The drug contained in coffee. A bitter white alkaloid derived from coffee (or tea) and used in medicine for a mild stimulant or to treat certain kinds of headaches.
• The stimulant drug contained in coffee and tea. This is the stuff that makes coffee so addictive. It stimulates the central nervous system and, in the right amounts, causes adrenaline to be released and can enhance heart function.
• An alkaloid found in coffee, tea, and kola nuts, that acts as a stimulant and a diuretic.
• A stimulating drug found in coffee, tea, and cola beverages. After a headache begins, caffeine may be helpful in aborting headaches, so it is widely used in combination drugs prescribed for relief of headache. Paradoxically, using caffeine to excess or too rapid withdrawal from caffeine, may cause headaches in some individuals.
• A mild stimulant, the most widely used drug in the world.

Slurped in black coffee or sipped in green tea, gulped down in a soda or knocked back in a headache pill, caffeine is the world’s most popular psychoactive drug.

Caffeine, the white, bitter-tasting, crystalline substance was first isolated from coffee in 1820. Both words, caffeine and coffee, are derived from the Arabic word qahweh (pronounced “kahveh” in Turkish). Coffee trees were cultivated in the 6th century and coffee itself began to be popular in Europe in the 17th century. By the 18th century plantations had been established in Indonesia and the West Indies.

Caffeine is used by fitness enthusiasts to get more out of their workouts. Once thought of as a ‘health no-no’ for athletes, caffeine is taking center stage as a legitimate aid to performance. This benefit has been recognized by the makers of sports nutrition products like energy gels (see chart below).

A growing body of laboratory research supports caffeine as an effective ergogenic aid. (An ergogenic aid is a substance that improves athletic performance.) The most dramatic performance improvements (20-50 percent) are seen during prolonged (over two-hours) endurance exercise. Caffeine is also reported to benefit short-term intense exercise lasting about five minutes at maximal output.

Caffeine Effects During Pregnancy
If consuming caffeine in general is something many people shouldn’t do, what about women who are pregnant? Safety of caffeine consumption during pregnancy is controversial. Some studies suggest that small amounts of caffeine (less than two average cups) of coffee per day presents a slight risk to the embryo or fetus, while others do not. There is stronger evidence that larger daily amounts of caffeine during pregnancy may increase the risks of miscarriage, preterm delivery and low birth weight, but no solid proof.

High caffeine intake during pregnancy should be avoided. A pregnant woman may be able to tolerate more then her fetus can. Risks of even small amounts of caffeine consumption are not clear. Women trying to become pregnant may conceive sooner if they limit caffeine intake to less then two cups daily. Breastfeeding women can minimize infants’ exposures to caffeine by avoiding a very high caffeine intake.

Caffeine’s Effects on Women’s Fertility
Some studies have found a link between high levels of caffeine consumption by women and delayed conception. Women who consumed more than 300 mg of caffeine per day were twice as likely to have conception delayed for a year or more.1 Another study also linked high caffeine intake to delayed conception, but only in women consuming 500 mg or more (about four cups of coffee) per day.2 Best to keep your caffeine intake below 300 mg a day.

Caffeine’s Effects on the Developing Fetus
Caffeine easily passes from mother to fetus through the placenta. A developing fetus may have higher, sustained blood levels of caffeine than its mother because of immature metabolism.3 A few studies have shown that consuming even small amounts of caffeine can affects fetal heart rate and movement patterns.3 A pregnant woman’s ability to metabolize caffeine slows as pregnancy progresses, so some of its effects may increase later in pregnancy.

Some studies have found that pregnant women who consumed large quantities of caffeine (five or more cups of coffee a day) were twice as likely to miscarry as those who consumed less, while fewer or no effects were seen at lower levels of caffeine consumption.

Caffeine’s Affects on Newborns and Infants
High caffeine consumption during pregnancy may shorten gestation and lower birth weight.6 Both effects appear modest in terms of days and ounces, but may be important to an infant already compromised by prematurity or fetal growth restriction. Such effects have not been consistently linked to moderate consumption.7

A reported link between heavy maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy and increased risk of SIDS8 (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) has not been supported byfurtherstudies.9

Breast milk can transfer caffeine from mother to baby. Very high caffeine intake by a nursing mother may make her baby irritable, with disturbed sleep cycles, but this is not known to occur from ordinary food and beverage caffeine intake, or without use of medications containing caffeine.

Tips on Cutting Caffeine Out Before Pregnancy… Men, please join us!
To cut caffeine out of your diet can be difficult. Many will experience side effects like headaches and cravings. To reduce the risks of these side effects it is recommended that you cut back slowly. For example, a coffee drinker should start with 3/4 of a cup of regular coffee and add 1/4 of decaffeinated coffee. Slowly they will increase the decaffeinated coffee until it is the entire cup.

Whether you discontinue caffeine cold turkey or slowly, it will help you to achieve a healthier pregnancy. It is also helpful to have your partner discontinue caffeine with you. So as you prepare for pregnancy by eliminating hazards from your diet and life, remember a healthy body helps produce a healthy baby!

At the age of 30, I look back at when I took my first sip. Another experience comes to mind: When my friend Karla and I made a large pot of coffee (I was 13) and drank it all to see what would happen. We were having a sleep over at her house, and I swear that I endured one of my first restless nights and morning bags under my eyes. Little did I know it that I was feeling what many grown-ups feel daily; fatigue from lack of sleep. Oh, to be 13 and that kid again.

Life is about choices. Every day we make lots of choices. From what time we will get up, to what we will wear, where we will go, and what we will eat. Every meal we make a choice whether to move towards our goals or away from them. Below are ten steps you can take to improve the choices you make every time you eat and live a healthier lifestyle.

Set Yourself Up For Success:
It is much easier to make the right food choices when you have those foods available to you. Stock your refrigerator and pantry with healthy, ready to eat foods. Fruits and vegetables are always a better alternative to processed junk foods, but you can’t be expected to eat them if they are not available when you are hungry.

Make Daily Eating Goals:
Never underestimate the power of setting a goal. Write out your meal plan for the next day before you go to bed. In the morning review it and then watch how much easier it is to make the right choices come mealtime.

Avoid the Hunger-Thirst Trap:
Many times people will experience sensations of hunger when their body is actually in need of fluid. To avoid these hunger sensations make sure you stay well hydrated throughout the day. Find a way to keep water with you wherever you are. Sip on it throughout the day.

Progress Not Perfection:
Focus on making progress in your eating behaviors. Avoid the perfectionist’s trap of trying to eat perfectly all the time. Everyone “falls of the wagon” at times. Look for small, attainable steps that you could take to improve your eating today. Over time these small steps of progress will add up to a lifestyle change.

Treat Yourself:
Give yourself the opportunity to have a treat every once in a while. Some people have a treat meal once a week. Others have a small piece of candy one time each day. Psychologically, the treat serves to recharge you and makes it easier to keep on track with your eating over the long term.

Out Of Sight = Out Of Mind:
Move tempting foods out of sight, and avoid places that might be too tempting to resist. In your refrigerator, move tempting foods into the bins, or to the lower shelves so that they are not at eye level. In your pantry do the same. Move those cookies to the lower shelves, or behind the healthy foods. Many people find it helpful to freeze tempting foods, because it requires thawing before eating and can provide just enough delay to avoid impulsive eating.

Get Help:
Not sure what you should be eating? Then get help from a fitness or nutrition professional. Or review the diets and eating habits of those who have the body you would like to attain. Often times just knowing what to eat can make a world of difference in someone’s eating habits. There are many great nutrition articles available right here on Medifast Health to get you started.

Take it Slow:
If you struggle with not feeling full while eating, then slow down the rate at which you eat. It takes 15 minutes for your brain to get the message you’ve been fed. Slow down the rate that you eat, or take a five-minute break half way through your meal. Give the body time to send the fullness signal up to your brain.

Record Your Nutrition:
Keeping a record of what you are eating allows you to objectively analyze your eating behaviors. Studies have shown that recording food alone causes individuals to eat less. The two most effective factors reported by those who have lost weight and kept it off are regular exercise and food recording.

If Your Favorite Chair Is In The Kitchen, Get A New Favorite Chair:
The kitchen is for eating. If it is not time for you to eat, then avoid the temptation by going to another part of the house. You may even want to get outside to reduce temptation even more. If you tend to watch TV near the kitchen you may want to move to another TV that is farther away to reduce the temptation to scavenge during commercials.

Begin incorporating these ten suggestions into your life as see if they make it easier to change your eating behaviors.

When you are thinking about the foods you eat, the last thing you want to think about is how dirty the foods actually are. There are some foods that are dirtier then others, and we have thought of ways to help you prevent your family from eating these before they are safe by giving you ways to make them safe. Check out the top ten dirtiest foods you eat and how to improve their quality.

Chicken

The dirt: The Consumers Union, the advocacy group behind Consumer Reports, recently tested 484 raw broiler chickens—the kind that show up in supermarket coolers—and found that 42 percent were infected byCampylobacter jejuni, and 12 percent by Salmonella enterides.

The latest USDA research notes similar Salmonella levels. Now add in the fact that we each consume about 70 pounds of chicken a year—more than our intake of beef, pork, or turkey—and it’s a wonder broilers don’t come with barf bags.

At the supermarket: Look for birds labeled “free range.” Close quarters in the henhouse give bad bugs the chance to spread, as do high-volume processing operations. Free-range chickens, which are given more room to roost and are usually slaughtered in smaller numbers, present a potentially safer option. For example, Ranger chickens, a free-range brand sold in the Pacific Northwest, came up negative for Salmonella and Campylobacter in Consumers Union’s tests.

At home: To help prevent foodborne illness, bypass rinsing your raw bird in the sink, and instead put it directly into a baking dish or pan. This shortcut reduces the odds of sullying counters and other foods, says Janet B. Anderson, R.D., director of the Safe Food Institute in North Logan, Utah. If you used a cutting board, clean it (and the knife) with a mild, dilute bleach solution. As for your heat treatment, cook breasts and other cuts until the temperature hits 180°F. (If it’s a whole bird, take the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh.) “Poking the chicken or judging by juice color is risky,” says Anderson.

Ground Beef

The dirt: When USDA inspectors last tested hamburger meat, they looked at 563 sources nationwide and discovered Clostridium perfringens in 53 percent of the batches, Staphylococcus in 30 percent, and Listeria monocytogenes in 12 percent. Interestingly, the USDA found no trace ofEscherichia coli 0157:H7, a.k.a. E. coli, one of the desperadoes of foodborne illness. Despite this finding, if slaughterhouse safeguards fail (and they sometimes do), E. coli could potentially pop up in your next patty.

At the supermarket: “Find a grocery store that sells irradiated ground beef,” says Donald W. Schaffner, Ph.D., an extension specialist in food science at Rutgers University. The package will bear the words “treated by irradiation.” Schaffner gives the safety of the treatment a glowing review: “The amount of induced radioactivity is 200,000 times smaller than the level of radioactivity naturally present in all foods.”

At home: Add fresh oregano to your burgers and meat loaf. When researchers at Kansas State University mixed a variety of common household spices into ground beef to test their antibacterial properties, oregano tested as one of the best at wiping out E. coli. Use at least 1 tablespoon per pound of meat. Just as important, flatten your patties—thick burgers will char on the outside before the interior reaches the required 160°F.

Ground Turkey

The dirt: According to the USDA, the odds are better than 1 in 4 that your ground gobbler contains Listeria, Campylobacter, Clostridium, or some combination of the three. What’s more, in a separate study by the FDA and the University of Maryland, 24 percent of the ground turkey sampled came back positive for Salmonella. And some of that Salmonella was resistant to antibiotics.

At the supermarket: Hunt for organic turkey. Most commercial turkey processors pump up their birds with antibiotics, a practice that may have encouraged the rise of resistant bacteria. Organic outfits, on the other hand, say no to drugs. When you reach the checkout, insist that the turkey be slipped into its own plastic bag and then placed in a meat-only shopping bag. This rule applies to beef and chicken, too: Otherwise, meat drippings might contaminate other groceries.

At home: “Start by thinking of it as being contaminated,” says Schaffner. Immediately retire to the dishwasher any platter that has come in contact with raw ground turkey. (Use the hottest setting.) Serve cooked turkey burgers (180°F) on a clean plate. And wipe up any spillage with a paper towel instead of a sponge. “The sponge is the most dangerous item in the house because of the organisms potentially living in it,” says Tierno.

Oysters

The dirt: Oysters’ power as an aphrodisiac is overblown, but their power as a diarrheic when slurped raw is not. They can contain the norovirus (a pathogen notorious for nixing ocean cruises), Campylobacter, and Vibrio vulnificus. University of Arizona researchers who studied oysters from so-called certified-safe beds discovered that 9 percent were contaminated withSalmonella bacteria. Still hungry? “We found E. coli in 100 percent of Gulf Coast locations, and in high amounts,” says Lynn Joens, Ph.D., the study author.

At the supermarket: Buy from the same beds that a chef stakes his reputation on. Sandy Ingber, executive chef and seafood buyer for Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City, buys Blue Point, Chincoteague, Glidden Point, Narragansett Bay, Pemaquid, and Wellfleet oysters in the winter months. During summer, he buys Coromandel oysters from New Zealand. The reason for the seasonal shift: More than three-quarters of outbreaks involving raw oysters occur in the Northern Hemisphere’s warm-water months.

At home: Very simple: Eat only thoroughly cooked oysters. If you must slurp, do so only after following the buying advice above.

Eggs

The dirt: Widespread pasteurization has reduced the rate of Salmonellacontamination in eggs to only one in 20,000. But that still leaves more than 2 million hazardous eggs in circulation each year. Food poisoning linked to eggs sickens an estimated 660,000 people annually and kills 300. “Often, dishes made at restaurants are from pooled eggs,” which increases the risk, says Schaffner. “It’s really a matter of statistics. Eat an egg sunny-side up and your risk of Salmonella is one in 10,000. Eat an undercooked omelette made from a mix of 100 eggs, and the risk is significantly higher.”

At the supermarket: Check the egg cartons. You’re looking for one word—”pasteurized”—and four numbers: the expiration date. Then remove each egg and look for cracks; germs can enter after pasteurization.

At home: Ignore the egg keeper on the refrigerator door. Instead, keep the eggs in their carton and stow it in the coldest part of your fridge (usually the back of the lowest shelf). Then, after you crack one open, wash your hands. In her study of household food preparation, Utah State’s Anderson reports that 60 percent of people failed to wash their hands after handling raw eggs. Finally, cook your eggs thoroughly—or, if they’re an ingredient in a dish, to 160°F.

Cantaloupe

The dirt: When the FDA sampled domestically grown cantaloupe, it found that 3.5 percent of the melons carried Salmonella and Shigella, the latter a bacteria normally passed person-to-person. Among imported cantaloupe, 7 percent tested positive for both bugs. And because you eat melons raw, the bacteria go right down your gullet. That’s a big part of the reason why from 1990 to 2001, produce in general has sickened as many people as have beef and poultry combined.

At the supermarket: Dents or bruising on the fruit can provide a path in for pathogens. But don’t think precut cantaloupe is safer. “I’ve been in several supermarkets where the produce was cut by personnel who didn’t wash their hands after handling eggs and other items,” says Anderson.

At home: Because cantaloupe grows on the ground and has a netted exterior, it’s easy for Salmonella to sneak on, and once on, it’s hard to clean off. Scrub the fruit with a dab of mild dishwashing liquid for 15 to 30 seconds under running water. And make sure you buy a scrub brush that you use exclusively to clean fruits and vegetables; otherwise, it could become cross-contaminated.

Peaches

The dirt: Being pretty as a peach comes at a price. The fruit is doused with pesticides in the weeks prior to harvest to ensure blemish-free skin. By the time it arrives in your produce department, the typical peach can be coated with up to nine different pesticides, according to USDA sampling. And while apples tote a wider variety of pesticides, the sheer amount and strength of those on peaches sets the fuzzy fruit apart. On an index of pesticide toxicity devised by Consumers Union, peaches rank highest.

At the supermarket: Fill your plastic produce bag with peaches that wear a “USDA Organic” sticker. And since apples, grapes, pears, and green beans occupy top spots on the Toxicity Index, too, you may want to opt for organic here as well. Just know that organic produce also contains some pesticide residues, but in minuscule amounts.

At home: “A lot of produce has a natural wax coating that holds pesticides, so wash with a sponge or scrub brush and a dab of mild dishwashing detergent. This can eliminate more than half of the residues,” says Edward Groth III, Ph.D., a senior scientist with Consumers Union. Got kids? Play it extra safe, and wash and pare peaches, apples, and pears.

Lettuce

The dirt: The lettuce on a burger could cause you more grief than the beef. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, lettuce accounted for 11 percent of reported food-poisoning outbreaks linked to produce from 1990 to 2002, and “salad” accounted for 28 percent.

At the supermarket: Prepackaged salad mix is not inherently more hazardous than loose greens or a head of lettuce. It’s the claims of being “triple washed” that lull consumers into complacency. “Just because something is wrapped in cellophane doesn’t mean it’s free of pathogens,” says J. Glenn Morris, M.D., chairman of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland school of medicine.

At home: Rinse salad greens one leaf at a time under running water before eating. Beware of cross-contamination, too. “People know it’s risky to put salad in the same colander they washed chicken in,” says Anderson, “but they think nothing of touching a towel used to wipe up poultry juice, then making a salad.”

Cold Cuts

The dirt: Cold cuts have been labeled at “high risk” of causing listeriosis by a joint team of researchers from the USDA, FDA, and CDC. While only 3 percent of the deli meats sampled contained Listeria at the point of purchase, the bacteria’s rapid growth rate on cuts stored even under ideal conditions concerned researchers. Combine that with the fact that cold cuts are, well, eaten cold, and you’ve got trouble; Listeria thrives at refrigerator temperatures that stun other foodborne pathogens.

At the supermarket: The most likely source of Listeria-contaminated cold cuts is the deli slicer. Without regular cleaning, the blade can transfer bacteria from roast beef to turkey to pastrami and back. But aside from asking the clerk to stop and clean the slicer before handling your order, the best you can do is avoid delis that are obviously dirty and stick with those that are annoyingly busy. Meats that rotate through a deli quickly have less opportunity to bloom with Listeria.

At home: Skip the sniff test and trash whatever meat you haven’t eaten in a week. When you’re ready to build your sandwich, slather on the mustard. Researchers at Washington State University killed off 90 percent of three potent pathogens—Listeria, E. coli, and Salmonella—within 2 hours of exposing them to a mustard compound.

Scallions

The dirt: Scallions play a bit part in most dishes, but a little goes a long way, as evidenced by the massive hepatitis A outbreak at that Chi-Chi’s in 2003. Dirty scallions have also triggered small hep A outbreaks in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Other bugs known to have grabbed a ride on green onions include the parasite Cryptosporidium, Shigella, and the ever-present Salmonella.

At the supermarket: Buy refrigerated scallions; room temperature can trigger a bacterial explosion.

At home: Turn on your faucet full force to blast away visible dirt. As you rinse, remove the outer sheath to expose lingering microorganisms, but realize that any step short of thorough cooking is only a partial solution. “More and more,” says Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, “pathogens are entering produce like scallions at a cellular level.”

Almost every diet book, nutrition guide and weight-loss manual includes the information that one pound of body weight equals 3,500 calories, and then comes the advice that for every pound that you want to lose, you must either eat 3,500 fewer calories or use up that amount with extra physical activity.

It’s a simple, straightforward formula, but there’s one problem: It’s simply wrong.

Why? Stretch out the numbers over time, and you can see that the math may make sense but the science doesn’t work. If you reduce your average daily caloric intake by 100 calories (one less snack pack per day, perhaps?), you should shed one pound of body weight every 35 days. This would add up to almost 10.5 pounds per year. Keep it going for 10 years and you’ll lose, almost 105 pounds? It can’t be true.

The New Math

While it has been the conventional diet wisdom for decades, this calculation is “obviously ridiculous,” according to Kevin Hall, PhD, a physiologist and investigator in the laboratory of biological modeling at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health. The problem with the 3,500-calorie formula, said Dr. Hall, is that it is predicated on the idea that metabolism remains constant, and it does not.

Metabolism is affected by gender, by age, by size and weight loss, and by stress and lifestyle. Your metabolism and my metabolism may be as unalike as are your eight-cylinder, four-wheel-drive SUV and my Mini Cooper, not to mention that even that SUV “metabolizes” gasoline differently while puttering around in town than it does at 60 mph on the highway.

So What Can You Do?

According to Dr. Hall, even when an eating plan is followed religiously, every dieter’s weight loss eventually slows and then reaches a plateau. The point at which this occurs is both highly individualized and affected by the changes in body composition. He said that people who are very obese, for instance, will lose weight faster than those who aren’t. “They tend to burn more fat during weight loss, which helps preserve their muscle mass,” he explained, “so they lose more overall weight than someone who is leaner.” Even so, Dr. Hall noted that the 3,500-calorie formula grossly overestimates how much weight will be lost in a year even for that population.

Dr. Hall said that a simple, quick formula for sustainable weight loss is to reduce intake by 10 calories per day per pound you’d like to lose (for instance, to lose 30 pounds, you could cut your calorie intake by 300 calories per day). But this will be slow, he cautions, at this rate, significant weight loss takes years to achieve.

You can lose weight faster if you cut back more calories and/or add more physical activity, of course, and you don’t have to be a sophisticated scientist to figure out how to do that.

But for those who really like to work with more precise calculations, Dr. Hall and his team have developed a mathematical formula that takes into account the various complexities of body composition and metabolism to more accurately predict how many calories a particular individual will have to cut back, or use up, in order to reach a weight goal after a desired period of time. The model also calculates what permanent changes of diet or physical activity will be required to maintain that weight for many years. Dr. Hall told me that he hopes to have his calculator, which is already being used by researchers and clinicians around the world, available to the public online by mid-2011.

Source(s):

Kevin D. Hall, PhD, physiologist, laboratory of biological modeling, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

When it comes to following the Medifast Diet, its users quickly learn how important it is to follow the Medifast 5 & 1 strategy plan. Many worry that the diet is hard to follow, but overall it is not if you take the time to understand exactly what you should be doing and how.

Top Reasons to Follow the Medifast 5 & 1 Plan

There are multiple reasons as to why you should follow the Medifast 5 & 1 meal plan, even after you are off of the Medifast Diet. It is a meal plan that is easy to follow and good for your health, but there are several important reasons to why you should follow the Medifast strategies properly.

Reason #1 – Scheduling Your Body

One of the most important reasons to follow the strategies of the Medifast Diet is for the scheduling of your body. By following the plan perfectly, you are teaching your body a proper meal schedule. This helps minimize hunger throughout your days and also trains your body to be hungry at certain times.

Your body will quickly formulate to the schedule because you will be consuming food 6 different times throughout your day. By doing this, you stop feeling hungry all the time and always feel nourished, preventing you to crave those unnecessary calories.

Reason #2 – Develop a Healthy Lifestyle

The Medifast Diet helps each individual develop a healthy lifestyle. You are not only learning how to lose weight properly, but also learning how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Each individual should understand how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but there are millions nationwide that do not.

By maintaining a healthy life, an individual increases their chances at a longer, well balanced life. By using the Medifast Diet, you will learn how to do this easily and not be bombarded with frustrating methods and instructions. You will also find yourself not relying on the Medifast Meal Replacements forever, allowing you to maintain a healthy life without the assistance from a diet program forever.

Reason #3 – Lose Weight Properly

One of the biggest issues millions experience with dieting is losing the weight improperly. A lot of diets state that you can lose up to 20lbs in a weeks time, but this is not something you should do. With the Medifast Diet you will be losing weight at a healthy rate, allowing you to lose the weight properly. Losing weight properly also assists in keeping the weight off after you’ve reached your goal.

Instead of becoming apart of a diet program that doesn’t help you learn how to keep weight off and teach you everything you need to know about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, go with the Medifast Diet. Dieters are taught everything they need to know and helps themselves continue on with that healthy lifestyle forever.

By following the strategies laid out by the Medifast 5 & 1 Plan, you are setting yourself up for great weight loss success. It is important to do things the right way and Medifast wants to help its users do just that. Nows your chance to become apart of the Medifast Diet Plan! Stop taking part in fad diets and do it the right way, the Medifast way.

We all hear about these uber famous people losing excessive amounts of weight, but never understand exactly how they’ve done it. Jacqueline Laurita of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, isn’t shy about the subject, and she’s revealed exactly how she lost over 50 lbs.

Last week, Jacqueline celebrated her weight loss success in New York City after reaching her post baby weight loss goal of 50lbs.

How did she do it?

Jacqueline Laurita took it upon herself to become apart of the Medifast Diet Program to help her lose the weight she has wanted too since the birth of her son in June 2009.

With the help of Medifast and regular exercise, Jacqueline was capable of losing over 50lbs and being back to the weight she was before her pregnancy. Jacqueline stated that in the first two weeks she successfully lost 12lbs.

After all this successful weight loss Jacqueline shared with Bravo that she was comfortable now in front of the cameras since losing the extra weight and cannot wait to show off her better-than-ever physique during the new season of Real Housewives which resumes later this year on the network.

Most people want two things when it comes to their health, less body fat and a more toned body! Right? Well…

“Toning” is an often highly misunderstood concept. You might think you know what toning is but you probably have gotten really confused when trying to achieve it. Right? Body toning is simply increasing muscle definition by burning fat through exercise. You have heard thousands of times the phrase: “Proper exercise and diet play an important role…” to the point that you are sick of hearing it. Guess what? It’s true. Ignoring it will just delay the results you so desperately want to achieve.

The amount of muscle definition you have is directly linked to body fat percentage which is linked to your recommended daily calorie intake. Typically, when you eat more calories than you burn, your body stores the extra calories as fat and your weight and body fat percentage will increase. That is typical, but not always the case as you have something called a “metabolism” which plays a key role in this too. The biggest problem with extra fat that is storedon your body is it typically is stored on top of muscle so it will obscure any muscle definition you had and that just makes a bad problem worse.

Now typically, if you eat less calories than you burn, your body will use its fat stores for energy and your weight along with body fat percentage will decrease. I do say “typically” for the same reasons above is you still have your metabolism to deal with. If it is low, then you can run into some problems. However, once your body fat starts to go down, your muscles will appear more defined because they are no longer covered by as much fat. You will start looking better and therefore, naturally will feel better.

The formula for getting a more toned appearance is pretty simple. It isn’t just cutting your calories and increasing your exercise. While the phrase “Eat less and exercise more” sounds simple, it isn’t that simple. What you need instead is eating the RIGHT foods, with the RIGHT amount of nutrients so your body is properly fed. Think about it, you can eat Twinkies all day and get on the tread mill and “burn them off” but do you think you are going to actually lose weight? No. Your body is going to store a lot of it as fat because it is “starving” for proper nutrition. You have to feed your body well FIRST!

This is why the Medifast Diet is so effective, as it gives your body the proper nutrition it needs in order to achieve a state where fat burning can take place and the extra fat on your body will just start melting off of you. If you are looking for Medifast Discounts or Medifast Offers to start your diet off the RIGHT way, we have them.

Exercise Properly

There are two main types of exercise that will help you achieve a more toned look:

1. Cardiovascular
2. Strength training.

Cardiovascular exercise is anything that gets your heart beating fast and continuously over a long period of time. Cardio burns plenty of calories which will help you create a large calorie deficit. You should do cardio 3-5 times per week at 30-60 minutes per session. The more weight you need to lose, the more cardio you should be doing.

Strength training is often ignored by those who are trying to tone, it has some real benefits. Strength training (aka weight lifting) builds muscle which can help you burn more calories throughout the day.

Muscle tissue burns calories when it isn’t even doing any work. You can be sitting on your sofa, watching TV and your muscle tissue will burn energy. The more muscle you have, the more energy your body will burn all day long.

When you increase your muscle mass, you also increase your body’s energy requirements which makes your calorie deficit bigger and will help you shed body fat quicker. Strength training should be done 2-3 times per week at a minimum. This doesn’t mean you need to be a gym rat, far from it. All you need to obtain is build a solid framework of muscle and that will help you achieve your weight loss goals. Without it, it is going to take longer and be more frustrating. Also, having lean muscle will make you look sleeker, even at a heavier weight. Remember, it isn’t what you weight that is important, but how you look!

Concentrate on compound exercises such as:

• Squats
• Deadlifts
• Bench presses
• Bent over rows
• Pull ups

These will burn more calories because they target larger muscles and a greater number of them than isolation exercises such as bicep curls or sit ups which will help you increase your calorie deficit.

Monitor Your Diet

Exercise will yield only minimum results if it isn’t coupled with a good diet. Even a long cardio session won’t burn enough energy to allow you to enter a calorie deficient state. To do that, you also need to cut your calorie intake.

Your calorie intake is the main part of your diet that will help you get toned. You can gradually lower it by cutting out junk foods that are high in sugar and refined flour such as pastries, cookies, chips and sodas. Soda is liquid death! Stay away!

The types of food you eat can also have a big impact on how toned you look. Foods that are digested quickly leave you hungry and going back for more way too soon. If you drink a 300 calorie soda, you’ll be a lot hungrier within the hour than if you had eaten a 300 calorie whole wheat bagel. Foods that are made from sugar and white flour get digested very quickly.

Foods that are high in fiber and complex carbs are digested a lot slower which will help keep you full and therefore reduce your daily calorie intake. Good examples of these foods include:

• 100% whole wheat bread/pasta
• Brown rice
• Vegetables
• Fruit
• Oatmeal

Foods high in lean proteins can also help keep you full (poultry, tuna, low fat dairy).

You should be consuming 500-1,000 calories less than you burn everyday to see results. You can get an estimate of how much your body burns daily by using a tool such as the calorie calculator.

Don’t Waste Time on Spot Reducing

One sure way not to get toned is by attempting to focus on your problem areas. When your body stores fat, it chooses the location and there’s nothing you can do to change that. The same thing happens in reverse when your body is burning fat for energy; it chooses where the fat comes from and there’s no way you can direct your body to burn fat from your thighs or your stomach.

If you’re doing sit ups in an attempt to improve your midsection, you’re wasting time. Sit ups and other exercises that target the abdominal muscles are good for strengthening that area of the body, but they aren’t good for burning calories.

The same rule applies to tricep extensions for getting rid of fat on the arms or a butt blaster for getting rid of fat on your legs. Exercises that target certain areas of the body will build that muscle up but won’t burn the fat that’s sitting on top of it. Strength training is important but it shouldn’t replace calorie burning exercises such as running, biking or swimming.

No Shortcuts Will Work

There are no shortcuts to getting a toned and defined body. Pills, creams and off the wall diets are all a waste of your time and can be detrimental to your health. By taking your diet and exercise routine seriously, you’ll get healthy and long lasting results.

Need Help? Turn to the diet backed by more than 20,000 doctors since 1980. Save money with Medifast Promotions today!